Review of the UN Global Focal Point: Police, Justice & Corrections

This report presents the results of an independent review of the progress that the United Nations (UN) Global Focal Point on Police, Justice and Corrections (GFP) has made since January 2012. Based on extensive document research and more than 150 interviews, conducted at UN Headquarters and in seven field settings, the report finds that the GFP initiative can claim partial success, holds credible promise as an effective tool for the delivery of police, justice and corrections assistance to UN missions and country teams across the globe, and is in need of significant improvement that will require increased support from senior UN management as well as UN Member States.

The UN’s GFP is the most recent initiative in a decade of efforts to improve the coherence and quality of the UN’s rule of law support to crisis- and conflict-affected countries. Its aim is to provide better police, justice and corrections services from UN Headquarters to UN peacekeeping missions, special political missions and non-mission settings. Instead of establishing another institution, task force, coordination group or lead entity, the GFP innovatively focuses on creating more integrated ways of working among two key UN actors and with the broader UN system. In this way, the GFP could be considered as a business improvement initiative, in which the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the UN Development Programme have each convened a portion of their resources to deliver better police, justice and corrections services together to the field, while keeping the door open for other UN actors to enter their joint venture.