What are the linkages between security sector reform (SSR) and the reform of various rule of law institutions, such as the police, justice and intelligence services? This edited volume, published by Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform, argues that the SSR activities that have been initiated in Africa, either by donor influence or by local decision, have been undertaken in a piecemeal fashion. Security sector reform can be enhanced through a coherent and inclusive framework that incorporates police, justice and intelligence reform as an essential aspect of the reform process.
Security sector reform is increasingly embraced by policy-makers and development actors. However, there is a growing recognition that the neglect of crucial subsets of the security sector – including the police, justice and intelligence components – needs to be addressed. Security sector reform and the reform of specific rule of law institutions are interconnected and mutually reinforcing. The police, justice and intelligence services represent sectors whose performance and capacity to deliver security as a public good would be directly affected by improved governance of the security sector. Similarly, reform of the police, justice and intelligence services would greatly enhance the general level of security for ordinary people.
A new focus on enhancing security through the reform of the police, judiciary and intelligence services is imperative for the following reasons:
- The police is charged with the delivery of public security and is often faced with the need to reform, whilst having to deal with the immediate problems of local policing, as well as the multiplication of transnational threats.
- The police and judiciary are amongst those public sectors where practices of corruption and organised crime’s influences are most pervasive, especially in developing countries.
- The degree of public confidence in the criminal justice system is a critical issue of concern for security sector reform. In cases where the entire criminal justice system is under-resourced, its legitimacy is compromised and the efficiency and quality of justice is eroded.
- The consequences of the weakening of the efficiency, quality and legitimacy of the criminal justice system include the proliferation of vigilantism, self-policing and the privatisation of security.
- The intelligence sector is often avoided in SSR discussions, but it plays an important role in internal security due to its influence on crucial issues such as regime survival and the preservation of civil and political rights.
To date, security sector reform has been pursued in a piecemeal and disintegrated manner in Africa. SSR should be based on an inclusive approach by incorporating the various subsets of the security sector – in particular, the police, justice and intelligence components. An inclusive approach to SSR highlights the need to:
- Address institutional biases by adopting a more holistic approach to the understanding SSR issues in Africa and integrating mainstream rule of law aspects into the SSR discussion, such as justice and penal reform.
- Build institutional frameworks through an incremental approach. This may involve retaining or retraining personnel, the entrenchment of the separation of powers between the three arms of the government and establishing institutions for training security personnel, especially in protected sectors of the intelligence.
- Encourage the involvement of civil society in SSR, particularly in the prison and penal system. Permanent and systematic links between the penal and prison system and its social environment needs to be established to ensure richer inputs and inclusiveness in the reform process.
- Promote partnerships with external actors, especially international NGOs. External actors should have the ambition to seize the right opportunities for change in the area of SSR and the modesty to refrain from substituting the efforts of national authorities by supporting and strengthening ongoing reform policies.
- Undertake institutional reform by strengthening policy-making institutions, parliamentary oversight and the independence of the judiciary.
- Promote a change in attitudes within the leadership of the police, justice and intelligence agencies, whose political will is critical to dismantling the artificial separation of the different components of the security sector.
