Secretary-General, Under-Secretary-Generals,
Excellences, Distinguished Delegates, dear friends and colleagues,
I would like to extend our greatest appreciation to the Police Division and the Secretariat for organizing the first UN Chiefs of Police Summit in history.
We hope this meeting can contribute to greater visibility of the UN Police, and their central and unique role in international peace operations, building on the momentum created by the overall reform process.
The landscape in which the UN Police perform has developed significantly the last decades. Today, the UN Police are mandated with numerous and complex tasks, which require new sets of skills, capacities and supporting structures.
To meet this new reality, Norway would like to stress three important ways forward:
One: We need to raise the level of quality and expertise of our police contributions.
Specialized Police Teams is one way in which the UN can make use of Member State expertise in a high quality and cost-efficient manner.
Two: We need a common strategy to streamline our efforts. We need one standardized approach to international policing – not 193 different approaches.
The Strategic Guidance Framework for International Policing will provide such standards through policy documents, guidelines and operational manuals. Being a major supporter, we look forward to seeing its complete finalization.
Three: As stated in the HIPPO-report, we need a thorough reform of the UN Police.
The external review of the Police Division is our unique opportunity to boost a reform process that will make the UN Police fit for the future.
The Secretary-General received the report on Tuesday this week. We urge the Secretariat to plan for its implementation and to take action on its recommendations. We hope that we, the Member States, can support this implementation process.
We further hope the outcomes of the meeting today will contribute to a great future of the UN Police.
Thank you.