Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units -Sub Iure ad Pacem tuendam Milites paro 4- 2021 The CoESPU
MAGAZINE
The online quarterly Journal of Stability Policing
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THE COESPU COMPOUND MEMORIAL
FOREWORD
Dear CoESPU Magazine Readers,
The last quarter was very exciting for us considering the
many activities held here at CoESPU. Our final course of the
year was extremely significant because, following a project in-
cluded among several other initiatives of the Italian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in favour of the
Countries belonging to the ASEAN - the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations -, the Center of Excellence for the very first time,
had the pleasure to host such a very peculiar training activity.
Indeed, the “1st Cultural - Heritage Protection” course (CHP) has seen as lecturers
and trainers, Subject Matter Experts from the Carabinieri Command for the Protection
of Cultural Heritage, one of the Carabinieri elite units that has been countering cul-
tural and heritage related crimes, with passion and tenacity for over 52 years.
In this perspective and given the importance of the CHP you can find
in this edition of the Magazine, an article concerning history and activities re-
garding the Carabinieri Protection of Cultural Heritage Command (TPC), writ-
ten by Lieutenant Colonel Luigi Spadari, Head of TPC Data Processing Section
and Senior Officer of the Blue Helmets of Culture Italian task force.
Colonel Oscar Figueroa Ulloa, Carabineros de Chi-
le, highlighted the prominence of technology such as geospace
and big data technologies for prevention and police investigations.
Sergeant Ana Prieto Raga, Spanish Guardia Civil, brilliantly il-
lustrated the role and functions of their nature Protection Service (SEPRONA).
Lieutenant Colonel Roberto Gonella, CoESPU Chair of Crisis Mana-
gement and Peace Support Operations, co-authored together with Ms. Ma-
ria Margaret Young, CoESPU intern, Major in international affairs with
minors in Legal Studies and Economics at the John Cabot University, an at-
tention-grabbing article analysing the issue of Sexual Exploitation during POs.
Ms. Giulia Ramundo, Art History & International Affairs Gradua-
te - Art & Cultural Heritage Advocate, CoESPU intern from the John Ca-
bot University, made a comprehensive exploration on Culture as a systema-
tic victim of international crimes suggesting the possible integration of Cultural
Components in any international Peace Operation mandate.
Dear Readers, I hope you will appreciate this latest issue of 2021 and
that the New Year will be special, surprising, and happy for you all. Happy 2022!
BG Giovanni Pietro BARBANO
CoESPU Director
EDITORIAL TEAM
MAGAZINE EDITOR IN CHIEF:
BG. Giovanni Pietro Barbano
MANAGING EDITOR:
MAJ. Lucio De Angelis
DRAFTING, COMPOSITION, GRAPHICS AND EDITING:
MAJ. Lucio De Angelis
CWO Salvatore Camagna
CWO Massimiliano Dimichele
Mr. Denis Rizzotti
IMAGES AND ARTWORK SOURCES:
United Nations,
CoESPU Magazine Team
Cover picture: Ivan Pignataro
Other authors are indicated in single captions
PUBLISHER:
COESPU, VIA MEDICI, 87
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SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Maureen BROWN
Giorgio CUZZELLI
Andrea DE GUTTRY
Michael DZIEDZIC
Karen J. FINKEBINDER
Oreste FOPPIANI
Nadia GERSPACHER
Edoardo GREPPI
David LIGHTBURN
Paolo MAGRI
Andrea MARGELLETTI
Emanuele Vittorio PARSI
Karla PINHEL RIBEIRO
Bernardo SALA
Dmitry TITOV
Gabriella VENTURINI
The CoESPU Magazine is devoted to the publication of professional concepts and issues, research
and doctrinal products developed by the Carabinieri Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units, in
collaboration with other international research Centers. The Magazine addresses topics of professio-
nal, technical, operational and juridical nature in the field of Stability Policing within Peace Opera-
tions. Based on the core values of ethics, integrity, professionalism and respect for diversity, harmo-
nically inflected and informed by the traditions of over two hundred years of Carabinieri history, the
Magazine fosters Human Rights and gender mainstreaming, while seeking to enhance current police
peacekeeping doctrine and promoting international police peacekeeping interoperability, cognizant
of Lessons Learned and best practises. The CoESPU Magazine is constantly committed to upholding
UN standards, norms, procedures and curricula, while endorsing self-sufficiency of the participating
Police Contributing Countries. Consequently, its editorial policy promotes the principles of represen-
tativeness, responsiveness, and accountability, as well as effectiveness, efficiency, transparency, and
accessibility, to provide the highest professional standards to build trust and legitimacy of beneficiary
Law Enforcement Institutions.
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this journal belong to single authors and do not ne-
cessarily reflect the official policy or position of the CoESPU, the UN, The Italian Government, the
Carabinieri or other nominated Institutions. Content is copyrighted where expressly indicated,
but Material belongs to authors themselves. The Center of Excellence for Stabilities Police Units
retains full and exclusive ownership over other magazine contents and original images. Repro-
duction of any part of this magazine without express written permission is strictly prohibited.
TABLE OF CONTENTS 8
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SPT IN UN AND EU MISSIONS. 20
CARABINIERI TPC, SINCE 1969 IN DEFENCE OF OUR CULTURAL HERITAGE 26
SEPRONA: THE NATURE PROTECTION SERVICE 38
42
EMBEDDING NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN POLICE PEACEKEEPERS TRAINING
54
GEOSPACE AND BIG DATA IN POLICE INVESTIGATIONS
62
INTERNSHIP RESEARCH RESULTS 70
76
POSSIBLE INTEGRATION OF CULTURAL COMPONENTS IN POS 80
84
ALUMNI
GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN THE REFORM OF AFGHAN POLICE
IN DEPTH
THB FOR SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND POS
HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
SLEEP AND COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS – PART 2
COESPU TRAINING
AROUND THE WORLD
COESPU ONSITE VISITS
EVENTS
“The CoESPU Magazine – the on line Quarterly Journal of Stability Policing” is a stand-alone on line publication.
Printed copies are intended for internal use and shall not be distributed.
Published on www.coespu.org
facebook.com/coespu THE COESPU MAGAZINE
linkedin.com/school/coespu REGISTRY COURT NUMBER:
twitter.com/coespu VICENZA N.3367/2018 U.G. R.S. 8/2018.
[email protected]
coespu.org ISSN: 2611-9005
COESPU MAGAZINE [ONLINE]
PUBLISHED ONLINE ON THE COESPU WEBSITE WWW.COESPU.ORG - INTERNET SERVICE
PROVIDER: “TELEMAR” S.P.A., VIA ENRICO FERMI, 235 - 36100 VICENZA (ITALY)
- SPT WITH POS: POSSIBLE DEPLOYMENT OF EP AND
- EMBEDDING NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN POLICE
CHP SPT IN UN AND EU MISSIONS
E PEACEKEEPERS TRAINING
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AND CHP SPT IN UN AND EU MISSIONS
CARABINIERI TPC, SINCE 1969 IN
DEFENCE OF OUR CULTURAL HERITAGE
Carabinieri (Tutela Patrimonio dually grown to include all eviden- All peoples make their contribu-
Culturale) TPC, since 1969 in de- ce of human creativity and expres- tion to the culture of the world.
fence of our cultural heritage. sion: photographs, documents, That’s why it’s important to re-
books and manuscripts, and in- spect and safeguard all cultural
by Luigi Spadari struments, etc. either as individual heritage, through national laws
objects or as collections. Today, and international treaties. Illicit
The cultural heritage. towns, underwater heritage, and trafficking of artifacts and cultural
the natural environment are also objects, pillaging of archaeolo-
“Heritage” is a property, so- considered part of cultural heritage gical sites, and destruction of hi-
mething that is inherited, passed since communities identify them- storical buildings and monumen-
down from previous generations. selves with the natural landscape. ts cause irreparable damage to
In the case of “cultural herita- Moreover, cultural heritage is not the cultural heritage of a country.
ge,” the heritage doesn’t consist only limited to material objects Our right to enjoy the arts, and
of money or property, but of cul- that we can see and touch. It also to participate in the cultural life
ture, values and traditions. Cul- consists of immaterial elemen- of the community is included in
tural heritage implies a shared ts: traditions, oral history, per- the United Nation’s 1948 Univer-
bond, our belonging to a commu-
nity. It represents our history and “CULTURAL HERITAGE IMPLIES A SHARED BOND,
our identity; our bond to the past, OUR BELONGING TO A COMMUNITY. IT REPRESEN-
to our present, and the future. TS OUR HISTORY AND OUR IDENTITY; OUR BOND
Cultural heritage often brings to TO THE PAST, TO OUR PRESENT, AND THE FUTURE”
mind artifacts (paintings, drawin-
gs, prints, mosaics, sculptures), hi- forming arts, social practices, sal Declaration of Human Rights.
storical monuments and buildings, traditional craftsmanship, repre- Societies have long sought to pro-
as well as archaeological sites. But sentations, rituals, knowledge and tect and preserve their cultural he-
the concept of cultural heritage is skills transmitted from generation ritage, for reasons ranging from
even wider than that, and has gra- to generation within a community. education to historical research to
8
the desire to reinforce a sense of a systematic despoliation of its ri- gislation the Carabinieri TPC have
identity. In times of war and confli- chness, especially of its archaeolo- been identified as the center of in-
ct, cultural identity and cultural he- gical heritage. The creation of the formation and analysis for the Ita-
ritage become all the more impor- Carabinieri TPC, was in response lian Law Enforcement Agencies.
tant. Buildings, monuments and to this criminal activity, already at They operate nationwide in coordi-
symbols of culture that speak of that time considered to be an ur- nation with all other territorial and
shared roots acquire an increased gent issue involving criminal or- special branches of the Carabinie-
significance. Accordingly, they can ganizations. The TPC was establi- ri Corps, other Police Forces, and
become targets of violent and op- shed in 1969, one year before the the territorial offices of the Ministry
pressive action that seeks to destroy signature of the UNESCO Paris of Culture (MiC) for protection and
the symbols valued by enemies or Convention in 1970, whereby all preservation tasks through special
the iconography associated with UNESCO member States were in- investigations aimed at identifying
alternative faiths and traditions. vited to create specific services with perpetrators of crimes against the
a view to protecting the Cultural cultural heritage (i.e., theft, recei-
The Carabinieri Command for Heritage of the individual nations. ving stolen property, unauthorized
the protection of cultural heritage The command is functionally pla- archaeological research, counter-
Historical background ced under the Minister of Culture. feiting and forging, etc..) and at
The Carabinieri Command for The Commander of the TPC is one recovering unlawfully removed go-
the Protection of Cultural Heritage of the direct aides to the Minister, ods; monitoring - even with aircraft
(Carabinieri TPC) is the first poli- although not formally subordina- overflights and coordinated servi-
ce specialized department created te. Despite its peculiar organiza- ces with Carabinieri horse-moun-
with the sole aim to combat the il- tion and objectives, the TPC is a ted units, patrol boats and scuba
licit traffic of Cultural Property. Its police department and, therefore, diver’s teams - land and marine
structure and tasks have evolved basically executes police tasks and archaeological sites, as well as
over the years, and its positive resul- plays a role regarding the safety areas of scenic interest and UNE-
ts demonstrates the effectiveness of and protection of the national cul- SCO “World Heritage” sites; con-
the system. Italy is one of the coun- tural heritage, through the preven- trols over commercial activities
tries with the richest historical and tion and repression of the multi- and fairs/markets where the sale
cultural heritage in the world, and ple interrelated criminal activities. and purchase of cultural property
it experienced, after World War II According to the specific Italian Le- occur; verifications on security me-
asures in museums, libraries and
archives; checks on the catalogues
of auction houses and e-commer-
ce sites; the management and
updating of the Italian Stolen wor-
ks of art database, which collects
information related to the offenses
against cultural property in Italy
and foreign States ask to input
about their stolen treasures; the
participation in National and In-
ternational crisis and coordination
Units for the safety and recovery of
artworks and cultural properties in
areas affected by natural disasters.
It carries out preventive mea-
sures and direct interventions,
but only with regards to cri-
mes involving cultural property.
Investigations and repatriations
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represent, on the other hand, the ge of information is fundamental Their main tasks during those mis-
main direct intervention activities to developing investigations whilst sions were assessing war damage
undertaken by TPC. Beside the also representing an opportunity to Cultural Heritage; cataloguing
aforementioned aspects, the TPC to build capacity in countries with existing items; surveying archeo-
places a great emphasis on its trai- less experience in the field. In ad- logical sites and assessing their
ning activities, both national and dition, the TPC participate in inter- security; training local Officials in
international. Training on broad national workshops and seminars, Protection of Cultural Heritage;
concepts in
cultural pro- “THE CARABINIERI COMMAND FOR THE PROTECTION OF s u p p o r t i n g
perty pro- local Poli-
tection is CULTURAL HERITAGE (CARABINIERI TPC) IS THE FIRST POLICE ce Forces in
SPECIALIZED DEPARTMENT CREATED WITH THE SOLE AIM TO operations
provided for COMBAT THE ILLICIT TRAFFIC OF CULTURAL PROPERTY” aimed to fi-
foreign po- ght criminal
lice forces and other officials (cu- presenting the Italian “model” attempts against Cultural Herita-
stoms, armed forces, ministry of for Cultural Property Protection. ge; identifying missing objects and
culture and so on), however the
recovering documents and photos
main focus is on the Italian mo- The TPC is functionally placed un- in order to feed the database of il-
del for cultural property protection.
legally removed cultural artifacts.
Combating crimes related to cul-
The TPC has a pivotal role also in
tural property is a complicated
what the Ministry of Culture defines
task. One reason for this is that
as ‘cultural diplomacy’. It happens
trafficking in Cultural Property is
from time to time that despite the
more often than not a transna-
evidence provided during the inve-
tional crime that requires a trans-
stigations by the TPC, the outcome
national investigative approach.
of a penal procedure that involves
Objects are stolen from one coun-
international letters rogatory, is a
try, smuggled across the border or
denial of restitution, and the forei-
borders of others, sold illegally in
gn court does not enforce the return
another, and ultimately, perhaps,
of the items. At this point the judi-
finds a home in yet another. IN- der the Minister of Culture. The cial methods to regain possession
TERPOL provides key international Commander of the TPC is one of of the lost object are exhausted,
police cooperation, but this is not the direct aides to the Minister, al- and nothing obliges the actual ow-
always enough. The looting and though not formally subordinate. ner to return it. It is here that cul-
smuggling of cultural property are The Command, which has a dou- tural diplomacy comes into play in
a complex crime that requires a ble role like Armed Force and Law the shape of a series of agreemen-
specific focus and unique experti- Enforcement Agency, has been ts providing for the return of the
se that goes beyond the usual to- playing for 52 years an extraordi- property to Italy regardless of the
olkit of police personnel. The only nary role in defense of the cultural outcome of the judicial process.
way to successfully protect cultu- and historical memory of the Na- The effectiveness of the negotia-
ral heritage is through close in- tion, recovering more than 3 million tions depends on the strength of
teragency work across borders. of stolen/illicit exported artworks the claim, again based on the in-
(more than 500.000 in the 2020). vestigations carried out by the TPC.
In more than 52 years of experien-
The TPC has also operated abroad
ce the TPC has created solid wor- They have already served abroad offering its experience in peace-ke-
king relationships with many law in International Missions, as was in eping operations. For example, in
enforcement agencies in the world. Kosovo in the frame of the “Joint 2002, in Kosovo, it contributed to
International cooperation creates Guardian” UN mission (2002- the census of the artistic-histori-
opportunities to exchange informa- 2003) and in Iraq in the frame of cal goods at risk in the churches
tion, best practices and experien- the Italian Peace Keeping Mission of that area, and in 2003-2004 in
ce. Cooperation and the exchan- “Antica Babilonia” (2003-2006). Iraq it collected, in extremely dif-
10
ficult environmental conditions, with regional or interregional juri- sory Mission in Iraq (EUAM Iraq).
the photo-descriptive information sdiction, plus a Sub-Unit in Sicily.
of the goods looted from the mu- The “Nuclei” are under the control The Italian stolen works of art
seum of Baghdad, then transmit- of the Group, and report to it and, Database
ted to the Italian database and as far as police investigations, to Since the 1980s, the Carabinie-
from there to the Interpol databa- the competent Public Prosecutors. ri TPC have been using an au-
se and to UNESCO for their inter- Officers of Carabinieri TPC are alre- xiliary instrument in its investi-
national diffusion, so as to make ady working, as expert, in the most gations: the “Stolen works of art
those goods recognizable in case important international organiza- database”, provided by Article 85
they appeared on the market. tions like UNESCO, INTERPOL, EU- of the Legislative Decree no. 42
ROPOL and European Union Advi- dated 22 January 2004 (Code of
Structure and Organization
The Carabinieri TPC is under the
command of a Brigadier General
(Roberto Riccardi) and it is compo-
sed of about 300 police officers,
in possession of a skilled profes-
sional profile, also acquired at-
tending specific training courses.
Its organizational chart foreseen,
at central level, a Staff Office, a
Group, and an Investigation De-
partment (split into three high spe-
cialized Sections: Archaeology,
Antiquities, Modern Art and Coun-
terfeiting) to which are assigned
investigative coordination tasks
throughout the national territory
and international police co-opera-
tion functions. On a territorial le-
vel it has 16 Units, named Nuclei,
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the Cultural and Landscape He- stored, it is the biggest in the world. which the Task Force may be effecti-
ritage), which contains data and It is a powerful Information Te- vely deployed: natural disasters,
images (if available) of every cul- chnology tool that allows the re- peace keeping missions and pre/
tural object reported as stolen in covery of stolen items due to the post conflict situations (given the
Italy together with data concer- combination of the efficacy of its necessary security framework that
ning many objects stolen abroad. image search algorithm and the can be granted either by local, inter-
A portion of the database is fre- experience of TPC operators (in national or foreign security forces).
ely accessible from the Carabi- 2020, more than 34,000 cultu- The TF should assist/support local
nieri website and contains about ral items were checked on internet staff in activities of protection and
22,000 items (those of highest hi- and more than 12,000 of them re- safeguarding of cultural heritage,
storical and artistic importance). sulted stolen and were recovered). improving security measures to li-
The use of sophisticated computer The Task Force “Blue Helmets of mit the risk of cultural heritage da-
technology has made the databa- Culture” mage, protecting, recovering and
se as reference point for the enti- In 2015, to answer the numerous putting in security cultural items,
re TPC Headquarters and for the training local police/army forces.
threats to the cultural heritage of Even if the TF was conceived to be
other Italian and foreign Law-En- humankind, Italy created the Task employed basically abroad, its first
forcement Agencies allowing to Force “Blue Helmets of Culture” intervention was in Italy, in the are-
conduct a careful analysis of crimi- (TF BHC), a rapidly deployable as hit by the earthquakes of 2016
nal phenomenon concerning the unit composed by personnel of and 2017. The intervention of the
illicit trafficking of cultural property. the TPC and experts of the Mini- Task Force allowed the recovery of
The database includes more than stry of Culture, that can be sent all the movable Cultural Proper-
1.280.000 stolen objects descri- anywhere in the world in order ty in the area, more than 30000
bed, with more than 810,000 ima- to help local authorities in pro- objects. The Task Force has been
ges; 65,970 theft cases are repor- tecting cultural property in danger. working with civilian experts from
ted (60,480 committed in Italy and There are three basic scenarios in the Ministry of Culture in order to
5,490 abroad). For information assess the risks and quantify the
damage to cultural heritage in
areas hit by the quake and devise
the necessary action plans. Addi-
tionally, to assist in the safe remo-
val of transportable artefacts and
remnants from the sites and help
in the counter looting activities
conducted by local police forces.
The TF was deployed in the last ye-
ars around the world, where the
cultural heritage was in danger
by natural or human made disa-
ster: on march 2018 in Mexico,
on January 2020 in Albania and
on January 2021 in Croatia (after
earthquakes), and on October
2020 in Lebanon after the drama-
tic explosions in the port of Beirut.
Education
The TPC has always conceived the
protection of cultural property not
as the exclusive prerogative of itself
12
alone, nor those of Ministry offi- an effective and widespread pro- rienced a theft gains appreciation
cials. On the contrary, effective and tection of the cultural heritage of of the significance of loss, perhaps
widespread protection of Cultural a nation must also pass through only the victim of a theft can truly
Heritage of a nation can only be the direct involvement and awa- appreciates what it means to
achieved through the direct invol- reness of all citizens and, in parti- experience the restitution of a va-
vement and awareness of all citi- cular, of the younger generations. lued or sacred object. However,
zens and, in particular, of the youn- In order to further qualify the acti- as one reads accounts of the re-
ger stitution of stolen objects to mem-
gene- vities of the Command in this field, bers of local communities and
rations. the already existing collaboration churches, there can be no doubt
One with the academic world has been that the successes of the Carabi-
way of refined. In fact, the universities nieri TPC represent contributions
advan- themselves are very valid starting that are way beyond measure.
cing points for qualified synergies in The best way to protect cultural
this po- the fight against the illicit traffic of heritage is to prevent any dama-
licy has cultural goods. In recent years, the ge, but the TPC believes that this
been to Command has developed fruitful objective can be achieved only with
establi- activities with various Italian univer- collaboration of the public. The
sh a presence in schools. Raising sities, with which important issues awareness that cultural heritage is
awareness can be a lot easier and have been studied in depth and part of our identity, of our “home”,
more effective for a group of stu- the skills of the Command’s com- is the only tool that can ensure un-
dents if, for example, a Carabiniere ponents have been strengthened. remitting and effective protection,
of the Command presents to them Being sensitive at the widespread in every place and in every instan-
the most vibrant and attractive use of smart-phones, Carabinieri ce, of each and every object that
aspects of its work, highlighting the created an application called iTPC is part of the heritage of humanity.
importance of the recovery of cul- for new generation phones and
tural property for its public use and tablets. Through this application, PICTURES
the need to repatriate it. Finally, citizens are able to access direct- Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale
the exhibitions and publications af- ly the CC TPC website and their
ford the chance to show the public databank virtually from anywhe- Luigi Spadari
some recovered items, but also to re. The instantaneous compari- Lt. Col. – Italian Carabinieri
highlight the damage that clande- son of works of art on the market Head of TPC Data Processing
stine excavations and illicit expor- with the CC TPC databank of sto- Section and Senior Officer of
tation of art and archaeological len artworks will be an invaluable the Blue Helmets of Culture
objects cause to scientific research, tool for the fight against art cri- Italian task force
and also how complex and lengthy mes. In addition, this innovative
the investigations and procedu- application offers an opportuni-
res are in order to recover them. ty for any citizen to contribute to
A department specialized in the the search for wanted artworks.
protection of cultural heritage Just as a community that has expe-
must necessarily intervene acti-
vely also to make the general pu-
blic aware of the importance of
protecting and safeguarding cul-
tural assets. The Command for
the Protection of Cultural Herita-
ge has always conceived the pro-
tection of cultural heritage not as
its exclusive activity, believing ra-
ther that the only possibility for
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SEPRONA: THE NATURE
PROTECTION SERVICE
The Nature Protection Service bers, the SEPRONA represents a The SEPRONA has evolved signifi-
unique tool which does not exist cantly, not only increasing its num-
by Ana Prieto Rego in any of our neighbour countries, ber of members, but also including
and it is presented as a worldwi- new tasks and fields of action. It has
Currently, environmental thre- de reference in the fight against acquired larger capacities to beco-
this type of crimes. Most countries me a specific environmental crimi-
ats are one of the main concerns have small police units which are nal investigation police unit within
faced by our society at a global, part of larger departments invol- the Guardia Civil, as well as a re-
European and national level. ved in the fight against organized ference model which goes beyond
The defence of the environment re- crime it is broader sense. On the our borders, as mentioned before.
quires, first and foremost, a proper other hand, the SEPRONA is a unit Initially, it was designed as a special
legislation to guarantee its pro- with a global environmental pro- Guardia Civil unit essentially rural,
tection. However, the involvement tection strategy, and it engages easily recognizable by its characte-
of the security forces in charge of tasks aimed at raising awareness, ristic ATV motorcycles. However,
its surveillance and enforcement is prevention and administrative con- after a number of years, the SE-
also essential. In this regard, Spain trol. A crucial aspect is that it is by PRONA has extended its field of
holds a privileged position thanks law a specific criminal investiga- action to cover other illicit activities
to the presence of a specific unit tion police unit for environmental such as pollution, food safety, inve-
within the Guardia Civil exclusively issues. This dual nature (carrying stigation of forest fires, protection
devoted to this mission: the Natu- out actions both in the administra- of domestic animals, historic he-
re Protection Service (SEPRONA). tive and criminal fields) provides ritage, international trafficking of
With more than 30 years of expe- the SEPRONA with a special qua- species, etc. It has multiplied its
rience and almost 2,000 mem- lification to develop a comprehen- capabilities up to the present day
sive environmental protection fun- by implementing innovative police
ction, which constitutes one of the investigation techniques and state-
keys to the success of the Nature of-the-art technical means, com-
Protection Service (SEPRONA). plemented with technical-expert
14
reports linked to DNA matching the sale in pet shops of
of different specimens, the use of all kinds of endangered
the Carbon 14 technique for ivory animals or plant species.
analysis and age determination,
and specific forensic analyses for ➢ Historic Herita-
the identification of wood types, ge: The growing demand
among other innovations and the and the high price rea-
development of technologies used ched by the artefacts and
by the members of the special unit archaeological remains
in their investigative work to de- illegally obtained, along
tect any type of criminal offence. with the associated plun-
These activity fields (many of which dering and destruction
are unknown to a large part of the of the Spanish histori-
population),include,amongothers: cal-cultural heritage, the framework of its daily activi-
➢ Animal welfare, based on have forced the SEPRONA to keep ty and comprehensive investiga-
a special attention to the vigilance a special vigilance on the decla- tion efforts, the SEPRONA works
of animal mistreatment and aban- red monuments and archaeologi- against illegal activities related to
donment of domestic animals, as cal sites, implementing an effective cross-border waste shipments, il-
well as the le-
legal dumping, ille-
gal and proper THE DEFENCE OF THE ENVIRONMENT REQUIRES, gal landfill activities,
trade, transport FIRST AND FOREMOST, A PROPER LEGISLATION TO irregular recycling
and posses- operations, etc.,
sion of these. GUARANTEE ITS PROTECTION as well as against
the illegal trade
➢ Trafficking in protected control in the corresponding mar- of ozone-depleting substances.
species: As the Authority in char- kets in order to detect and prose-
ge of ensuring compliance with cute any plundering of the Histo- ➢ Protection of the public
CITES regulations and the pro- ric and Palaeontological Heritage. water domain: The SEPRONA’s
tection of endangered wildlife spe-
cies and their products, SEPRO- ➢ specialized units monitor and re-
Waste and Pollution: To- port illegal activities related to
NA members are in charge of day’s society activity and lifestyle the extraction of aggregates, il-
checking official permits both for entail an increasingly significant legal wells, canalization works
the entry into the country and for consumption of resources, which and uses, discharge of waste wa-
in turn causes ter, navigation and illegal wa-
a continuo- ter outlets, as well as any other
usly growing activities which could damage
generation of the nature and the environment.
waste. There-
fore, its proper ➢ Forest fires: The SEPRO-
management NA places a permanent focus on
and use beco- preventing forest fires. To this end,
me a crucial they monitor the compliance with
issue in order the restrictions in locations where
to minimize its fires are allowed, the burning of
impact on the stubble and fields, as well as the
environment installation of garbage dumps in
and conse- the vicinity of forest masses, rein-
quently on the forcing surveillance in moments
citizens’ life of high risk of fire. In their condi-
quality. Within tion of criminal investigation po-
15
SPT WITH POS: POSSIBLE DEPLOYMENT OF EP
AND CHP SPT IN UN AND EU MISSIONS
lice, they also carry out investi- the two most relevant police institu- nation, was established with the
gations to find out the cause and tions: Europol and Interpol, which aim of providing environmental
authorship of known forest fires. are joining forces and carrying out intelligence to all the administra-
an important coordination effort to tions and bodies involved in this
➢ Agri-Food Safety and Pu- show the world the need to work to- area, with a view to promote sy-
blic Health: The Seprona Com- gether to fight crimes, and proving nergies and collaboration at na-
mand is the national contact point that it is actually possible to do it. tional and international level.
within the EU Food Fraud Network. As examples of SEPRONA’s inter- International relations established
At a national level, this network national cooperation, this year within the framework of the Euro-
is managed by the Ministry of we are chairing the EnviCrime- pean Union are nothing new. As
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Net network, an association of mentioned earlier, these relations
As you can see, the com- police forces devoted to environ- have been based on the founda-
prehensive nature protection im- mental tasks and with the aim of tions of the EU law in force and ful-
plemented by the SEPRONA en- providing advice to the EU on the ly developed, in accordance with
tails a great commitment by all its adoption of environmental pro- the new needs of environmental
members, as well as a continuo- tection policies from the point of protection. Possibly, the two best
us effort to keep up with the wide view of the security forces. Another examples in our nearby environ-
ment are the Italian Carabinieri,
and varied regulations associated important initiative under our le- who have just absorbed the State
with this task. Therefore, conti- adership is the Jaguar network, Forestry Corps, creating a unit si-
nuous training is also essential. involving Latin American environ- milar to ours. The other example is
The SEPRONA’s success lies in the mental police forces. This informal the SEPNA of the Portuguese Repu-
commitment of all its members, network is making possible the blican National Guard. Apart from
in addition to the involvement of exchange of best practices, impro- these two services created accor-
all other specialized units within ving cooperation on both sides of ding to our model, no other Euro-
the Guardia Civil, and the rest of the Atlantic, with excellent results. pean country has our capabilities.
the State administration bodies. It is also worth mentioning the re- Beyond the European borders,
Likewise, it is essential to take cent creation of the National Cen- new partnerships are emerging
into account not only to the resul- tral Office for the Analysis of Infor- with countries as diverse as Peru
ts obtained from the various joint mation on Illegal Environmental or Congo. In the case of Peru, the
operations carried out with the dif- Activities within SEPRONA NCO Coordinating Prosecutor’s Offi-
ferent police forces, but also than- (National Central Office). This was ce for the Environment and Ur-
ks to the partnerships that prove established within the framework ban Planning and the SEPRONA
the commitment of the States and of the TIFIES plan against Inter- are organizing workshops and
security forces worldwide in the national Wildlife Trafficking and presentations on investigation,
preservation of the environment, Poaching. This office, a real fo- coordination and collaboration
all governed and coordinated by cal point for analysis and coordi- techniques between these two in-
stitutions in the fight against envi-
ronmental crime. The aim is pre-
senting this coordinated model
as a successful model that can be
imported by the Peruvian authori-
ties and adapted to their judicial,
procedural and police systems.
Relations with Congo are based on
the SEPRONA’s experience in the
use of canine units as a police tool,
particularly in the fight against
trafficking in protected species.
Likewise, the training of Ecoguards
16
is also being developed for the have been taken in this direction. As the rest of the mission, this will
members of the SEPRONA and The Tourism and Antiquities Poli- be subject to the highly unstable
the General Directorate of Biodi- ce Department, which has so far political situation in the area.
versity, Forests and Desertification. been carrying out activities aimed
The Guardia Civil is also fully in- at maintaining a safe tourist en- The inclusion of a member of SE-
tegrated in missions such as EU- vironment and preserving Palesti- PRONA into the mission has been
POL-COPPS (The EU Coordina- nian antiquities and cultural he- warmly welcomed by those in
ting Office for Palestinian Police ritage, is now taking on the role charge. Although they were not
Support), an EU civilian mission of environmental preservation. aware of the existence of this spe-
established in 2006 in the occu- The EUPOL COPPS Mission has de- cialized unit, they did know that the
pied Palestinian Guardia Civil is
territory with the THE SEPRONA’S SUCCESS LIES IN THE COMMITMENT OF a reference in
aim of assisting in ALL ITS MEMBERS, IN ADDITION TO THE INVOLVEMENT environmental
the development policing at Eu-
of Palestinian in- OF ALL OTHER SPECIALIZED UNITS WITHIN THE GUAR- ropean level.
stitutions from the DIA CIVIL, AND THE REST OF THE STATE ADMINISTRA- Thanks to the
legal and police TION BODIES experience gai-
point of view. The ned in this in-
mission comprises a police ad- cided to support the PCP in its new ternational field, we may say that
visory section, as well as a le- concept of environmental policing, the Spanish model of SEPRONA
gal advisory section staffed by and environmental advisors have within the Guardia Civil, as a com-
EU lawyers, judges and jurists. joined the mission since 2019. The prehensive police force for envi-
The Palestinian Civil Poli- Palestinian police present and pro- ronmental protection, is highly ap-
ce (PCP) wants to further de- pose objectives in the long term, preciated by all the countries with
velop its Environmental Poli- and the main idea is to create an which we interact. This fact is evi-
ce Unit, and a number of steps environmental police from scratch. denced by the numerous requests
17
SPT WITH POS: POSSIBLE DEPLOYMENT OF EP
AND CHP SPT IN UN AND EU MISSIONS
received to visit and get to know our Vice-presidency for ecological sue was approached from different
organisation, that we have been transition and the demographic perspectives (technical, diplomatic,
working to improve for decades. challenge has been established. sociological, business, etc.). Than-
ks to this, it was possible to obtain
Climate change is the great en- During 2021, relations have been an overview of the problems ad-
vironmental and socio-economic established with the European Se- dressed at European level, and
challenge in the 21st Century. En- curity and Defence College (ESDF) about the involvement of the dif-
vironmental crime is in third po- for the development of various trai- ferent participating countries.
sition in the list of criminal activi- ning courses on Climate Change Organization of a congress on cli-
ties1, and it is considered as one and Security addressed to the ar- mate change, focusing on the im-
of the most lucrative criminal acti- med forces and police forces of dif- pact of this phenomenon in the
vities. It is a growing form of cri- ferent European countries (Lamar- Eastern Mediterranean Sea area,
me, with a potentially devastating ca, Cyprus and Brussels, Belgium). held in Nicosia. The other partici-
impact on the entire population. These conferences were delivered pating military forces were able to
In this sense, Spain stands in a pri- by climate change experts. The is- obtain an in-depth knowledge of
vileged position in terms of natu- the Guardia Civil’s environmen-
ral resources and areas of special tal capabilities and competencies,
environmental protection. Spain is thus enabling and reinforcing our
the European Union country with operational capacity to participate
the greatest biodiversity, and sha- in different missions abroad with
res with the United States the first our Army and in cooperation with
place as world’s leading country in police forces from other countries.
biosphere reserves designated by During this last year 2021, the
UNESCO. It is also in the first posi- SEPRONA of the Guardia Civil
tion within Europe with the highest has been an active reference in
number of endangered species the UNODC Global Programme
(almost 38%), for whose protection for Combating Wildlife and Fo-
is crucial to adopt measures. rest Crime, “Wildlife Wednesday
Thus, the Spanish Government 2021”. Conferences addressed
has committed itself to tackle this issues such as illegal trafficking
issue, and the defence of the en- in species, illegal fishing, and il-
vironment and the fight against
climate change have been li-
sted as a priority. To this end, a
18
note
1 According to the UNEP-INTERPOL report
“The rise of environmental crime”, drug traf-
ficking is the most lucrative criminal activity
(344 billion USD), followed by counterfeit cri-
mes (288 billion USD), environmental crime
(258 billion USD) and human trafficking (157
billion USD).
PICTURES:
SEPRONA
legal timber trafficking, inter alia. period 2019-2023 also includes Ana Prieto Rego
Work programmes in South-east serious crimes against the environ-
Asia, Central and Southern Africa. ment. In support of these actions, Sgt. – Spanish Guardia Civil
It should also be noted that the new from a police point of view, there is SEPRONA
National Security Strategy 2017 in no doubt that the main actor in the
our country (Spain), includes the fight against this type of crime is
preservation of the environment the SEPRONA of the Guardia Civil.
as one of its 15 strategic objecti- “In the environment, with the en-
ves. Likewise, the recently appro- vironment, for the environment”
ved National Strategy against Or- Our nature is to protect.
ganised and Serious Crime for the
19
EMBEDDING NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN
POLICE PEACEKEEPERS TRAINING
GEOSPACE AND BIG DATA IN
POLICE INVESTIGATIONS
The use of Geospace and Big & Clarke, 1986), being of great im- his home, the probability of com-
Data Technologies for prevention portance for spatial crime analysis. mitting a crime decreases. (Bran-
and Police Investigations The spatial interaction raises a tingham & Brantingham, 1981).
fundamental hypothesis of geo- One of the most important milesto-
by Óscar Figueroa Ulloa graphy, what happens in one pla- nes that could be established in the
ce has an impact on a different criminal geographic analysis is that
Criminological theorists and fu- one, this interaction implies action crimes do not occur randomly in
and reaction, (Pumain, Saint-Ju- the territory, since individuals move
ture police lien 2010), added to the above, through time and space, forming
In the 80s and 90s, criminologi- criminal behavior is the product of mobility patterns over time. , the
sts from the Chicago School stu- an interaction between people and theory of crime patterns identifies
died that for many years crimino- their physical environment (Felson, three main concepts: nodes, rou-
logy was based on sociological Clarke 1998) whose observation tes and boundaries (Brantingham
and psychological aspects (Felson, can be at different scales, this rela- & Brantingham, 1981, 1984,
Clarke 1998), but research was tionship is evidenced in the distan- 1993). Milestone of great impor-
insufficient in relation to the geo- ces between the different actors tance to analyze serial crimes and
graphic space where crimes were and places, as the distance betwe- crime patterns in public spaces, for
committed, hence the criminolo-
gical theorists of routine activities GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS ARE FUNDA-
(Felson, Cohen 1979), Criminal MENTAL FOR THE ANALYSIS AND STUDY OF CRIMI-
patterns (Brantingham & Brantin- NAL PHENOMENA
gham, 1981, 1984,1993), Can-
ter’s circle (Canter, D. & Larkin, P. en them decreases, the intensity this computational cartographic
1993 ), The theory of rational choi- also decreases and frequency of tools were created for their use.
ce (Clarke & Felson, 1993; Cornish interactions, this is the principle of The geo-tecnologies and the crime.
spatial decay theory that tells us that
as the offender moves away from
20
Geographic information systems as well as layers of information te geographic information. With it
are fundamental for the analysis that can be exchanged through you can publish maps on the inter-
and study of criminal phenome- the network with standardized for- net of different themes, the softwa-
na, these systems were created in mats, its penetration in the police re can be used on desktop com-
the 80s, their first uses were focu- force was also possible with the puters, notebook or Smartphone.
sed on the forestry industry, from reduction of the costs of compu- Its main module is called Arcmap,
that date onwards they have been ters, printing devices and digitized which allows the creation of digital
incorporated into different discipli- maps, and over time, in recent ye- maps and different geospatial pro-
nes of scientific work. , among whi- ars, its use has grown exponentially cessing in raster and vector forma-
ch criminology stands out. A GIS (Vozmediano and San Juan, 2006). ts. It also has a module called Ar-
or GIS for its acronym in English cgis Online, which works with the
Geografhic Information Systems, Main geographic information sy- same characteristics as its desktop
its main function is to map physi- stems in the market for the police version, but entirely on the internet
cal and social geographic pheno- function. (cloud), but its main function is to
mena, its components correspond ArcGis make publications in digital media.
to; Software, hardware, digital It is a GIS of the Esri company, Arcgis licensing has a commercial
maps, databases, internet and a which is used by a wide group of version, which can be acquired by
user of the system, as the years go professionals from different areas local suppliers of the Esri company
by, software has been modernized of technical work. This system has in each country, there is also the
including more tools, digital car- multiple work modules, which al- possibility of free use through agre-
tography that at the beginning of lows you to collect, organize, ma- ements with Universities, this licen-
systems was fundamental, is now nage, analyze, share and distribu- se has a certain operating time for
consumed Through the Internet, users . Its digital file format is Shp-
file, as well as being compatible
with other CAD and raster forma-
ts such as GeoTiff, Jpeg and Ecw.
In the criminal field, it is used by
analysts to prepare crime con-
centration maps using the hot-
spot or hotline technique, maps
of frequency, spatial distribution
of crimes, or other variables of
interest to crime analysts. For the
geographic profiling technique,
it is used to locate the places of
abortion and attacks on the vi-
ctims, measurement of distances,
making concentric circles (Canter)
and demarcation of security zo-
nes and searching for the suspect.
Qgis
It is an open source geographic in-
formation system, this project was
born in 2002 developed by the
Open Source Geospatial Foun-
dation (OSGeo), its operation can
be carried out in various opera-
ting systems: Unix, Windows, OS
and Androite. Its tools allow to
21
EMBEDDING NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN
POLICE PEACEKEEPERS TRAINING
process, edit, This image shows a high-performance drone, of excellent use for bor- They are used by
analyze and der control and drug trafficking functions, it is of the fixed-wing type, geographic pro-
represent ge- has a range of 16 hours and high-quality sensors that can detect peo- filers to map the
ographic infor- ple or vehicles at several kilometers of distance and a capacity of tran- location of serial
mation, through smission of data in real time. This photo was all in tests carried out crimes, location
the treatment of at INTA National Institute of Aerospace Technology, in Seville Spain of places of boar-
digital maps in in 2019 in a commission for its evaluation of Carabineros de Chile. ding and attacks
vector and ra- on victims, mea-
ster formats. surement of cri-
minal activity zone
This program and calculation
was born with of Canter’s circle.
the objective of
designing an Use of Drones for
open source ge- observation of
ographic infor- the territory and
mation system police function.
for massive The use of tech-
use, its graphi- nologies for ob-
cal interface is serving the geo-
friendly and si- graphic space are
milar to other essential for the
commercial ge- police to carry out
ographic infor- preventive patrols
mation systems, and police investi-
which makes gations. This is a
users of paid familiar with geographic infor- relatively new te-
systems quickly familiari- mation systems. Its operation can chnology for the operation of the
ze themselves with their tools. be desktop computers, laptops or police, many times in the acquisi-
Smartphone, allowing to work with tion or testing of this technological
Qgis has the functionality that al- vector and raster formats. Its licen- equipment importance is given to
lows you to publish maps on inter- sing is commercial and its acqui- the shape of the platform (dro-
net networks, which can be shared sition is made through its website. ne) that supports the cameras or
using WMS and WFS format (stan- sensors, but the real importance
dard format for sharing spatial
information). Like Arcgis and Ma-
pinfo, criminal analysts use their
tools to establish crime concentra-
tions and measurements related to
geographic profiling techniques.
Gis Cloud
It is an online geographic informa-
tion system, which allows you to cre-
ate, edit and publish digital maps,
it has fewer features than Arcgis,
Mapinfo and Qgis, but among its
main strengths is the ease of crea-
ting and publishing digital maps,
being of great help for people less
22
is the equipment technology that into useful data for crime preven- me is defined, which allows “pre-
this drone carries, the type of sen- tion and subsequent investigation. dicting” the occurrence of crimes,
sors, since these can be in diffe- The photo shows a criminal analyst this based on complex mathemati-
rent bands of the electromagnetic from the Carabineros, explaining cal algorithms and based on envi-
spectrum, such as “Thermal”, “IR” to the community the place with ronmental criminological theories.
“Radar” and “Visible spectrum”, the highest concentration of cri- In 2017, the University of Chile,
having to consider aspects such me and its respective schedules, with its engineering faculty and
as spatial resolution (size of so that they can take preventive the Criminal Analysis Department
pixels) and the transmission of measures. Photo year 2019 ope- of the Carabineros, developed a
this data to a ground operator or rations office of 26 Comisaria de mathematical algorithm that al-
to a command and control center. Pudahuel, Carabineros de Chile. lows identifying areas of 150 me-
And the other is general mathema- ters by 150 meters the occurren-
Big data and crime preventio tical models with the data collected ce of crimes that especially affect
so that automatically, the area with people in public spaces with a
The problem of the police, they the highest concentration of cri- day in advance, this allows police
are no longer capturing informa- services to be planned with gre-
tion and its georeferencing, the ater precision, improving surveil-
problem is another, what to do lance and crime prevention. The
with so much data ?, and the- photo shows the areas that were
re you must have two views that identified by the predictor and in
must necessarily go together. The green the police controls deve-
first to have criminal analysts from loped by the police, which must
different areas or related such have geographic coincidence.
cartography, geography, psycho-
logy, sociology and engineering
for them can analyze this large
volume of data and transform it
23
EMBEDDING NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN
POLICE PEACEKEEPERS TRAINING
.
THE USE OF TECHNOLOGIES FO
GRAPHIC SPACE ARE ESSENTIAL F
OUT PREVENTIVE PATROLS AND P
24
OR OBSERVING THE GEO- BIBLIOGRAPHY EXTERNAL REFERENCES
FOR THE POLICE TO CARRY 1. Andresen, M.A., Frank, R., & Felson, M. https://www.arcgis.com/index.html
POLICE INVESTIGATIONS (2014). Age and the distance to crime. Crimi- h t t p : / / w w w. g e o b i s . c o m / e s / m a p i n -
nology & Criminal Justice, 14(3), 314 - 333. fo-gis-software/
2. Andresen, Martin. (2009). The place of en- https://www.qgis.org/es/site/
vironmental criminology within criminological https://www.giscloud.com/
thought. Classics in environmental criminolo- http://www.rigelanalyst.net/products/ri-
gy. 5-28. gel-profiler/
3. Brantingham, P., Brantingham, P. Crimi- http://www.wesleyenglish.com/thesis/
nality of place. Eur J Crim Policy Res 3, 5-26 https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/CrimeStat/
(1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02242925 https://iaca.net/
4. Brantingham, P.L. y Brantingham, P.J. (1993). h t t p s : / / w w w. g o o g l e . c l / m a p s / @ -
Nodes, paths and edges: considerations on the 33.3992073,-70.5621901,15z
complexity of crime and the physical environ- https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/
ment. Journal of Environmental Psychology, https://learn.arcgis.com/es/projects/track-
vol. 13 (nº 1), 3-28. crime-patterns-to-aid-law-enforcement/arc-
5. Rossmo D.K., Summers L. (2015) Routi- gis-online/
ne Activity Theory in Crime Investigation.
In: Andresem M.A., Farrell G. (eds) The Óscar Figueroa Ulloa
Criminal Act. Palgrave Macmillan, London. Col. – Carabineros de Chile
6. Bernasco, W. (2014). Crime Journeys: Chair of Criminal Analysis I
Patterns of Offender Mobility. In M. Tonry and II of the ACIPOL Academy.
(Ed.), Oxford Handbooks Online in Crimi-
nology and Criminal Justice (Oxford Han-
dbooks Online). Oxford, UK: Oxford Uni-
versity press. https://doi.org/10.1093/
oxfordhb/9780199935383.013.49
7. Capone, D. L., & Nichols, W. W. (1976). Ur-
ban Structure and Criminal Mobility. American
Behavioral Scientist, 20(2), 199–213. https://
doi.org/10.1177/000276427602000203
8. Cohen L. E. & Felson, M. (1979). Social
change and crime rate trends: A routine Acti-
vity approach. American Sociological Review,
44, 588-608.
9. Canter, David V. (1996) The Environmen-
tal Range of Serial Rapists. In: Psychology in
Action. Dartmouth Benchmark Series . Dart-
mouth Publishing Company, Hantshire, UK,
pp. 217-230. ISBN 1855213656
10. Clarke, Ronald V, and Marcus Felson
(1993): Routine Activity And Rational Choise,
Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick y Lon-
dres.
11. Canter, D.V. y Gregory, A. (1994). Identi-
fying the residential location of rapists. Journal
of the Forensic Science Society, vol. 34 (nº 3),
169- 175.
12. Canter, D. (1994). Criminal shadows: Insi-
de the Mind of the Serial Killer. Londres, Reino
Unido: Harper Collins.
13. Goodall, B. (1987). The Penguin dictionary
of human geography. Harmondsworth, Reino
Unido: Penguin.
14. Pumain D, Saint-Julien T, (2010), Analyse
Spatile, Les Interactions, 2e edition, Armand
Colin, Paris, 2010.
15. Rossmo, D. K. (1995). Georgraphic profi-
ling: target patterns of serial muderers. Simon
Fraser University. Retrieved from http://sum-
mit.sfu.ca/item/6820
16. Rossmo, D. K. (2000). Geographic profi-
ling. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
17. RENGERT, G.F., PIQUERO, A.R. and
JONES, P.R. (1999), DISTANCE DECAY RE-
EXAMINED. Criminology, 37: 427-446.
doi:10.1111/j.1745-9125.1999.tb00492.x
18. Urra, J., (2003) Agresor Sexual. Casos Re-
ales. Riesgo de Reincidencia. Madrid Editorial
EOS.
25
INTERNSHIP RESEARCH RESULTS
POSSIBLE INTEGRATION OF CULTURAL
COMPONENTS IN POS
The Contribution of Stability Po- The ancient city of Palmyra demolished by ISIS in September 2015. via The Mirror
licing to Explosive Ordnance Di-
sposal again his position against Iran the building, or landscape. Inde-
day following the tweet, “They’re ed, one would not hesitate to de-
by Giulia Ramundo allowed to kill our people, they’re stroy one of the many terracotta
allowed to torture and maim amphorae displayed in Rome to
Back in January 2020, former our people, they’re allowed to use save even a single human life.
roadside bombs and blow up our But what about the Colosseum,
U.S. President Donald J. Trump people, and we’re not allowed the Taj Mahal, or the Great Pyra-
threatened attacks on Iranian to touch their cultural sites? It mid of Giza? Would you blow the-
cultural heritage sites via Twit- doesn’t work that way” (Leven- se to bits to save one, ten, or a
ter – warning that, if Iran assaul- son). Here, Trump is raising a hundred humans? Now, the choi-
ts any other American assets, the thought-provoking point: how ce between destroying cultu-
United States will hit Iranian cul- can attacks to cultural herita- ral monuments and sacrificing
tural heritage sites (Levenson). ge be set on a level with crimes human lives is not so clear-cut.
However, US officials expressed
widespread opposition to tar- against human life – Sir Harold Nicolson, British diplo-
geting cultural sites. Colin Kahl,
Under Secretary of Defense for “CULTURAL HERITAGE HAS BEEN LOOTED, TRAFFICKED,
Policy in the Biden administra- AND DESTRUCTED THROUGHOUT HISTORY, ESPECIALLY
tion, tweeted back that, “Trump DURING ARMED CONFLICTS”
may not care about the laws of
war, but DoD (Department of De- such as murder? Is cultu- mat and author, would say that,
fense) planners and lawyers do . ral heritage that significant? “The irreplaceable is more im-
. . and targeting cultural sites is When choosing between de- portant than the replaceable, and
(a) war crime.” According to stroying cultural heritage and the loss of even the most valued
CNN, the former President stated sacrificing people, one might human life is ultimately less disa-
instinctively say that human li- strous than the loss of something
ves are more important than which in no circumstances can
any culturally significant artifact, ever be created again” (1944).
26
Not everyone agrees with
him, yet the global sa-
dness and solidarity in-
spired by the burning of
Notre Dame invites to
reflect. When the French
Cathedral was ravaged
by fire on 15 April 2019,
Vittorio Sgarbi, art hi-
storian and TV perso-
nality, promptly argued
that, “We haven’t lost
anything. There are no
really old works inside
it, just the structure and
some wall paintings of the
second half of the 19th
century. […] The furni-
shings are neo-Gothic—
stage-design without
masterpieces. What Notre Dame on fire on April 15, 2019, Paris. Nurphoto / Getty Images
have we lost with No-
tre Dame? Tell me a name, be restored and re-opened to red in plazas and street corners
a monument. The Crown of the public in 2024 (Ataman and eerily in silence with eyes trai-
Thorns? A fake. The important Ravindran). Why then people ned on their history burning,
part is the two towers, which are reacted with such shock to No- CNN reported a man in South
intact. Let’s stop wasting words; tre Dame fire? Why did the who- California asking, “Is it okay to
we need to distinguish between le world gather via screens to cry for a building?” (Stelter). Pe-
a masterpiece and a picture po- watch together the cathedral bur- ople with no connection to the
stcard” (2019). Regarding the ning? Via tweets, emails, text mes- French Cathedral nonetheless
actual fire damage, experts said sage chains, and social media felt the loss, just like people with
that it could have been much wor- posts, the world was united in hel- no connection to the 16thcentury
se and that the Cathedral will plessness. While Parisians gathe- Old Bridge in Bosnia and Her-
zegovina, the archeological
site of Palmyra, the Museum
of Brazil, and the Glasgow Scho-
ol of Art, were profoundly af-
fected when these were destroyed.
But what are these feelings about?
Again, this is a discourse on the
replaceable and irreplaceable
– or better about mortality. Whi-
le we expect people to die, cul-
tural heritage is a result of both
individual genius and collecti-
ve experience that, therefore,
transcends our individual fate
(Petrovic 87). Notre Dame, the
People reacting with such shock to Notre Dame fire on April 15, 2019, Paris. Yoan Valat / YOAN Old Bridge, Palmyra, the Mu-
VALAT/EPAEFE/REX/Shutterstock
seum of Brazil, and the Glasgow
27
INTERNSHIP RESEARCH RESULTS
School of Art were meant to out- also modern leaders like Napo- culturally significant movable and
lives us and not to be affected leon Bonaparte actually formalize immovable objects was percei-
by the passage of time, because, the massive plunder of Europe- ved simply as collateral damages.
when they do, it forces us to con- an art through a series of treaties
front the fact that our ability to imposed on Italian states in the Challenging the Notion of Se-
protect what we built for future 1790s (Turku 33). In response to cond-Rate Crimes
generations is sadly limited (Frost). these actions, cultural heritage Only after the massive displace-
has been progressively protected ment of art during World War 2,
The Evolution of the Norms & Im- from the violence of war, star- the deliberate erasure of cultural
heritage gradually emer-
plementation on Cultu-
ged as a separate crime
ral Heritage Crimes
– and this is particularly
Natural disasters such
evident in the war trials
as fires, earthquakes,
held post-conflict (El-
and floods impact cul-
lis 15). For instance,
tural heritage, indeed.
in The United States of
However, major steps at
America v. Ernst von
the national and inter-
Weizaecker (1949), the
national level regard the
defendant was char-
protection of cultural sites
ged with war crimes for
and objects from illicit
the confiscation and
and illegal activities. Cul-
destruction of cultural
tural heritage has been
property – in reference
looted, trafficked, and
to Article 56 of the Ha-
destructed throughout
gue Laws (Ellis 36). In the
history, especially during
case of Attorney Ge-
armed conflicts. One mi-
neral of the Gover-
ght say that the forceful
nment of Israel v. Ei-
removal of cultural
chmann (1962), the
objects from defeated to
Court went even
victor as well as the inten-
further noting that du-
tional destruction of these
ring the Holocaust, “the
to annihilate the enemy
persecution of the Jews
are practices as old as
became manifest in the
war itself – or, at least,
systematic destruction of
that go back to King
the synagogues” (Ellis 35).
Ashurnasirpal II of As-
The Hague Laws, then,
syria (883-859 BCE), who
survived the numerous
burned down the rival
violations concerning the
city of Damdamusa, or
to King Nebuchadnez- Look without Looting (1943), poster designed by Philip Youngman Carter for plunder and destruction
the British Army. Imperial War Museum, of cultural herita-
zar II of Babylon (634- London. Via Apollo Magazine. ge during World War
562 BCE), who plun-
dered and destroyed the First ting from early legal instruments 2 and provided criminal san-
Temple of Jerusalem (Turku 32). such as the Lieber Code (1863), ctions at Nuremberg, where
But the history of art is really the Brussels Declaration (1874), the International Military Tribu-
one of theft and destruction that and the Earlier Hague Laws (1899 nal enforced international cri-
saw ancient empires like the Per- and 1907), that acknowledge minal law sentencing German
sian and the Roman systemical- the immunity of cultural heri- leaders and organizers for viola-
ly plunder and erase conquered tage to a certain level. At that tions of the laws and customs of
cities as symbol of triumph, but time, however, the destruction of war – including also “plunder of
28
public or private property, wan- as Dubrovnik – with the intention there are often simultaneous
ton destruction of cities, towns to realize an “ethnically pure attacks on cultural and religious
or villages, or devastation not state” by physically elimina- property and symbols of the tar-
justified by military necessi- ting both cultural multiplicity and geted group as well, attacks
ty” (Nuremberg Art. 6(b)). religious identity (Turku 36). The which may legitimately be con-
For instance, in 1946, Alfred International Criminal Tribu- sidered as evidence of an intent
Rosenberg was charged with nal for the Former Yugoslavia to physically destroy the group”
war crimes and crimes against demonstrated that intentional (Vrdoljak 18).
humanity including the persecu- and discriminatory attacks on Jumping ahead to September
tion of Jewish pe- 2015, the
ople through the “ONLY AFTER THE MASSIVE DISPLACEMENT OF ART DU- Internatio-
systematic mas- nal Criminal
sive removal of RING WORLD WAR 2, THE DELIBERATE ERASURE OF CUL- Court sen-
their cultural proper- TURAL HERITAGE GRADUALLY EMERGED AS A SEPARATE tenced Ah-
ty throughout Euro- CRIME – AND THIS IS PARTICULARLY EVIDENT IN THE WAR mad Al Faqi
pe – in reference to Al Mahdi for
the Hague Laws (Vr- TRIALS HELD POST-CONFLICT” intentional-
doljak 14). Those ly destroying
trials established a strong pre- cultural heritage can serve as cultural heritage – religious
cedent: they recognized that evidence of an intent to commit and historical constructions –
the intentional and systematic genocide, explicitly using the sy- in Timbuktu, Mali in 2012 (Da-
destruction and plunder of cultu- stematic destruction of cultural niels). This was the first time
ral property by the Nazis in Ger- property during the Balkan Wars in history a case concerning
many and occupied territories to establish the Serbian geno- exclusively crimes against cultu-
constituted crimes against cidal intent against the Bosnian ral heritage was brought to the
humanity (Ellis 53). Muslims (Turku 186). Specifi- ICC; in fact, it has been strongly
cally, the Trial Chamber in the criticized by who believes that
Culture, then, has been a vi- Krstić case proved the specific these are second-rate crimes
ctim of international conflicts,
but not only. It has become an
important target during non-in-
ternational conflicts, too. A shi-
ning example is Khmer Rouge, the
cold-blooded regime that ru-
led Cambodia between 1975-
79, killed more than 3 million
individuals, and looted and demo-
lished the country’s cultural pro-
perty in the attempt to return to
the idealized period of the An-
gkor Empire (802-1431), when
Cambodian people “used to be
good and clean” (Turku 35). The
more recent war in former Yu- US General Dwight Eisenhower examines artwork stolen by the Nazis. Via United States Holo-
goslavia is another historical caust Memorial Museum
example. Throughout the con- intent element of genocide that overshadow crimes against
flict, Serbian forces deliberately behind the systematic destruction people – yet, the Al-Mahdi case
targeted cultural property, places of Muslim cultural heritage – challenges this notion drawing
of worship, and several UNE- stating that, “[w]here there is phy- a “clear connection between
SCO World Heritage sites – such sical or biological destruction cultural property crimes and at-
29
INTERNSHIP RESEARCH RESULTS
tempts at cultural erasure” (Ellis on the people” (Turku 142). solutions in response to the he-
25). As a matter of fact, the ICC artbreaking destruction of Syrian
Prosecutor highlighted not only A threat to global security cultural heritage alongside with
that the attacks were intentio- This evolution of the norms and a massive plundering cam-
nal, systematic, and meticulously implementation on cultural he- paign of its treasures by ISIS.
organized – but also that the tar- ritage crimes highlights that the Specifically, UNSC Resolutions
geted buildings embodied the intentional damage, destruction, 2199/2015 and 2253/2015
identity of Timbuktu constituting a or plunder of cultural heritage acknowledge that the illicit
significant part of its cultural he- is not a second-rate crime, but trafficking of antiquities funds ter-
ritage (Turku 140). The Prose- rather a strategy of war to pro- rorist organizations and com-
cutor stated that, “to destroy secute and eventually wipe out pel States Parties to adopt legally
Timbuktu’s mausoleums is there- a people in the long term – binding measures to stop “tra-
fore to erase an element of col- depriving them of their history de in illegally exported Iraqi and
lective identity built through the and memory. Indeed, the in- Syrian cultural property with the
ages. It is to eradicate a civili- tentional destruction of cultural assistance of UNESCO, Inter-
pol and their main partners.”
Example of traditional mud structures in the ancient city of Timbuktu that have come under attack As a matter of fact, a growing
or have been entirely number of countries are investing
in awareness-raising formal and,
destroyed by jihadists in Mali. via protectingheritage.com especially, informal activities hi-
ghlighting the importance of sa-
zation’s landmark. It is the de- heritage constitutes a war cri- feguarding cultural heritage,
struction of the roots of an entire me under Article 8 of the Rome creating national invento-
people, which irremediably af- Statute (1998). However, the ries, and adopting appropria-
fects its social attitudes, practices extension of international crimi- te legislation and regulations.
and structures” (Ellis 29). Since nal law to the categories of crimes But these latest cases in the Mid-
the destruction “received exten- against humanity and genocide dle East and North Africa, where
sive media coverage around the – especially at Nuremberg, ICTY, religion-inspired radical groups
world,” the Prosecutor argued and ICC – has reinforced the such as the Islamic State of Iraq
further that, “the attacks were de- perception that the deliberate and Syria (ISIS) have resor-
signed to destroy the roots of an destruction of cultural heritage ted to intentional and systemic
entire people and profound and is intrinsically linked to metho- attacks on cultural heritage as
irremediably affect its social practi- dical abuses of human rights. part of a campaign to ultimately
ce and structures” (Turku 140). Another major step at interna- erase the identity of the people in
Ultimately, the Trial Chamber tional level was taken in 2015, those regions, have generated
stated that, “attacking a sym- when the United Nations and its “a rapid process of securitization
bol of a group is an attack Security Council issued some re- that has elevated the destruction,
damage, and illicit trafficking
of cultural heritage to a securi-
ty issue” – recalling, therefore,
“existential threats to the survi-
val of a community or a state”
(Foradori, Giusti, and Lamonica,
86-87). Former UNESCO Di-
rector-General Irina Bokova has
exhaustively equated such actions
to “cultural cleansing,” “war cri-
mes,” “crimes against civiliza-
tion,” and “cultural terrorism”
(Foradori, Giusti, and Lamo-
30
A picture showing the Temple of Bel before it was destroyed by ISIS in September 2015 in Palmyra. Joseph Eid / AFP
nica, 87). international community of states There is a lack
Along these lines, Italian Mini- to adopt extraordinary measu- of public visibility and prio-
ster of Cultural Heritage and res to address this issue (Fora- rity for crimes against cultu-
Activities Dario Franceschini dori, Giusti, and Lamonica, 87). ral heritage and a general
commented that the protection
underestimation of these by law
of cultural heritage is a global National Specialized unites on enforcement. Yet, as we have
security necessity – and that, the protection of cultural herita- seen, these are not second-rate
“this is the reason why we ge
crimes. The illicit trafficking
are firmly convinced that the Against this background, a small of cultural heritage, in fact,
international community should number of countries have re- fuels money laundering, fraud,
finally find the strength to face sponded to the secutisation of corruption, and terrorism. At the
this problem at the United cultural heritage organizing spe- same time, the plunder and de-
Nations level” (Foradori, Giusti, cialized capabilities deployed struction of cultural sites and
and Lamonica, 87). Former Fren- as part of formed police units. objects negatively impacts the eco-
ch President François Hollande International experts agree that nomy of the destabilized coun-
went even further responding specialized national units are es- tries in which these crimes are
to the radical Islamist threat by sential to properly address the perpetrated. Usually, the mar-
calling on the world to take up complexity of the issue. In fact, ket importance of cultural herita-
arms “against those who forbid among other things, UNSC Re- ge is underestimated, while it is a
music, burn books, destroy cul- solution 2322/2016 urges States main area of revenue. But one
tural heritage and seek to cancel Parties to mature extensive law also loses this link between mo-
the memory of those who prece- enforcement and judicial coope- ney and heritage when thinking of
ded them ... [because] we are ration to fight the unprecedent cultural heritage not as a pro-
at war” (Foradori, Giusti, and scale of intentional destruction perty, but rather as a narrative.
Lamonica, 87). Ultimately, the alongside with organized plunder Cultural heritage is essentially
United Nations appealed to the and trafficking of cultural heritage. political. Think of the United Sta-
31
INTERNSHIP RESEARCH RESULTS
tes, for example. The death of va; for this reason, internatio- possible loopholes at national le-
George Floyd led to the removal nal organizations like UNESCO, vel are exploited by individuals
of controversial statues, espe- UNIDROIT, ICCROM and IN- and organized groups. For
cially confederate, that many TERPOL are assisting coun- this reason, international or-
perceived as, “racist symbols of tries in the fight against cultural ganizations like UNESCO and
America’s dark legacy of sla- heritage crimes across the UNIDROIT are open to assist
very” (Erahimji, Moshtaghian, world, “to strengthen huma- countries in the identification of
and Johnson). This political rage nity as a single community” gaps in their national legislation
over monuments is not new – re- (2021). Among their various ini- with the ultimate goal to adapt
cent episodes happened in Po- tiatives, these international ac- them to the international legi-
land and Germany – but this is tors are calling on countries to slation on the topic – offering,
something very familiar to all Eu- create, where they do not exist therefore, a common language for
ropeans, who have teared down yet, specialized national po- countries to cooperate effectively to
statues depicting former leaders lice units with highly-trained protect cultural heritage worldwide.
atleastsincetheBronzeAge(Lyman). personnel exclusively dedicated But this discourse puts in light
Cultural heritage is, therefore, a to the protection of cultural he- the role of specialized units, whi-
Protesters lynch a figure pulled from the Confederate monument at the State Capitol at the intersection of Salisbury and
Hargett Streets on 19 June 2020 in Raleigh, N.C. via CNN
sensitive cross-cutting topic that ritage. Today, the lack of such ch become key actors in the
deserves public awareness and units at national level precludes coordination between national
action. Protecting cultural heritage a keen understanding of this is- and international law enforce-
should be an imperative for hu- sue as well as the ability to tackle ment agencies as well as between
manity as a whole because, “no cultural heritage crimes effectively. policing and government offi-
culture stands alone – each reflects Given their transnational natu- cials. Specialized units promo-
centuries of exchange and dia- re, crimes against cultural herita- te the sharing of information on
logue between people, across ge usually involve several national criminal networks, movements
all borders,” said Irina Boko- jurisdictions – and, as of today,
32
of the items, and modus operan- These two countries were French soldiers were specifically
di of criminal groups, as well as instructed to do “whatever it ta-
stronger networking and part- behind the drafting of UNSC kes” to avoid damages in Gao
nership opportunities at the na- and Timbuktu, MINUSMA was
tional and international level for Resolution 2347, the first-ever mandated to “assist the Malian
coordinating polices, practices, authorities, as necessary and
and combined operations (Inter- exclusively dedicated to cultural feasible, in protecting from at-
pol 8). Essentially, these would tack the cultural and historical si-
serve as dedicated national poin- heritage protection – and whi- tes in Mali, in collaboration with
ts of contact to build a global UNESCO” and to “operate min-
network. And to strengthen this ch essentially formalized their dfully in the vicinity of cultural
network, countries are encoura-
ged to establish dedicated na- previous ground-breaking ini-
tional databases of their cultural
assets managed by specialized tiatives of including a cultural
law enforcement units and con-
nect these to the Stolen Works of component in the mandate of
Art database, which circu-
lates this information in- peacekeeping operations.
ternationally (Interpol 9).
The development of these new in- French army in Mali, Timbuktu, 2019. via CCOE
struments of regulatory and mul-
tilevel governance suggests a France and the military interven- and historical sites” (Martinez).
close connection between cul- To fulfill its mission, the MINU-
tural heritage protection and tion in Mali SMA-UNESCO alliance launched
security polices – with cultural a series of initiatives intended
heritage protection turning into a Following the iconoclastic clean- to raise awareness among
transnational and non-traditio- the police, military, and civi-
nal security issue, “increasingly sing of the World Heritage sites lian components involved in the
connected with such high-pro- peacekeeping operation about
file issues and hard power di- in northern Mali, Timbuktu, the the importance of cultural herita-
mensions as conflict resolution, ge (Caracciolo and Montuoro 93).
peacebuilding, security, people United Nations Security Coun- UNESCO equipped MINU-
empowerment, development, sta- SMA with a “Heritage Passport”
bility, and military intervention” cil decided for the establishment for northern Mali, so that the
(Foradori, Giusti, and Lamoni- personnel could identify cultural
ca 98). In this context, an incre- of a stabilization mission with heritage sites and their signifi-
asing number of countries are cance (Caracciolo and Montuoro
introducing cultural heritage pro- reference to cultural herita- 93). Furthermore, the damaged
tection polices at the national, heritage sites in the region were
bilateral, and multilateral level – ge protection called MINU- rehabilitated with the support of
with a focus on civil-military co- a coordinated programme by UNE-
operation. Among these sta- SMA (the United Nations
te-driven initiatives, the strategic
approaches of France and Italy, Multidimensional Integrated
in close relation with UNE-
SCO, laid the foundation for the Stabilization Mission in Mali).
establishment of a stronger inter-
national legal framework on the This ground-breaking French
protection of cultural heritage.
initiative endorsed the inclusion
of a cultural component in the
mandate of the UN peacekeeping
operations in Mali to safeguard
and recover the richness of Ma-
lian cultural heritage. While
33
INTERNSHIP RESEARCH RESULTS
Italian carabinieri, members of the UN task force “Blue Helmets for Culture” clean statues from dust after they were
recoverd from the seriously damaged church of San Francesco in the village of Visso on March 27, 2017, central
Italy. Filippo Monteforte/AFP via News Network Archeology
SCO and the Mi- racciolo and Montuoro 94-95). this task force was the key ele-
nistry of Culture. For instance, the ment of the Italian resolution
mausoleums destroyed by extre- Italy and the Blue Helmets of that the 38th UNESCO General
mists in 2012 was rebuild by lo- Culture
Conference passed with the in-
cal stonemasons working with Given the expertise of the Ca- tention to strengthen internatio-
UNESCO (Turku 145). rabinieri Command for the Pro- nal actions on the protection of
The complexity of this MINU- tection of Cultural Heritage (TPC), cultural heritage and foster mul-
SMA’s mandate had “profound Italy has played a key role in this ticulturalism in the event of war.
cultural, human rights, and process of securitization since In 2016, therefore, the Italian
communal implications” com- the very beginning. Among the government and UNESCO signed
passing, at least, two key di- various initiatives, Italy has brou- a Memorandum of Understan-
mensions – one referring to the ght forward concrete protection ding (MoU) in Rome to establish
cooperation with the ICC with re- measures with its innovative the Italian United4Heritage
gard to the evidence provided contribution in “developing what Task Force – now referred to
in the Al-Mahdi case, and the can be termed the new doctri- as the Blue Helmets of Culture
other concerning the develop- ne for ‘cultural peacebuilding’ (Mancini 624). Questions regar-
ment of Mali’s national law on (CPB)” – essentially, the establi- ding the implementation and the
the protection of cultural heritage shment of a task force to be de- definition of operational aspects
through the implementation of ployed in contexts of crisis and of this mechanism for rapid in-
main international conventions conflict where cultural heritage tervention under UNESCO’s co-
such as the Second Protocol to the is at risk (Foradori, Giusti, and ordination are still underway. As
1954 Hague Convention (Ca- Lamonica 92). The creation of of today, the task force is com-
34
posed of 30 Carabinieri and 30 dori, Giusti, and Lamonica, 97). and protect their cultural pro-
ministry officials to be deployed As of today, in fact, their areas of perty during our operations we
abroad in three basic scenarios: actions are pretty limited – es- afford communities a better
(1) natural disasters, (2) peaceke- sentially because their approach and faster opportunity to reco-
eping operations, and (3) pre or is reactive instead of proactive. ver after the trauma of conflict.”
post conflict contexts (Interpol The task force was established as The ancient city of Palmyra de-
12). For the very reason that the a response to the events in Pal- molished by ISIS in Septem-
task force includes civilians, the myra, but what would happen in ber 2015. via The Mirror
environment must be secured; another hypothetical scenario For this reason, the protection
deployment in combat scenarios like Palmyra? Would the Blue of cultural heritage should be
is, in fact, beyond any possible Helmets of Culture react to the included in the mandate of
mandate. The Blue Helmets of intentional destruction of cultu- peacekeeping missions; and
Culture, however, were speci- ral heritage in the event of ar- the successful integration of this
fically “designed to be rapidly med conflict? As of today, the cultural perspective into peace
mobilized in response to a re- deployment of the task force would operations depends on education,
quest from a UNESCO member be excluded, and the peaceke- training, awareness, and toleran-
state to assess the risk and/or epers on the ground would not ce – as well as on cooperation
quantify the damage to cultu- be under any obligation to sa- and coordination between the
ral heritage in crisis areas, devi- feguard the cultural heritage different components of the mis-
se action plans, perform technical of the host country. However, sion and, simultaneously, between
supervision, provide training Lieutenant Colonel Tim Purbri- the mission itself and the lo-
courses for local staff, assist with ck, Commander of the Cultu- cals (Foradori, Giusti, and La-
the transport of movable objects ral Property Protection Unit of the monica 88). In other words, the
to safe shelters and strengthen UK Armed Forces, draws at- safeguarding of cultural herita-
the fight against looting and the tention on the fact that, ge in crisis situations ultimately
illegal traffic in cultural artefacts” “Cultural Property Protection depends on the integration of a
(Foradori, Giusti, and Lamoni- is about delivering against the cultural component in the man-
ca 92). The task force intervened obligations set for us in the dates of any international peace
for the first time to prevent the Law of Armed Conflict. It’s operation – of a specialized police
damage of movable cultural he- about our moral obligation unit on the protection of cultural
ritage in central Italy after the to the communities amongst heritage which is not only able
2016 earthquakes (Interpol 12). whom we conduct military ope- to target capacity and capability
rations. It is about our repu- gaps in the host nation’s poli-
The way forward tation as armed forces, as ce and related law enforcement
Essentially, this Italian task for- NATO and as our coun- agencies, but it is also able to
ce of experts in the protection of tries. It is about our ability to cooperate effectively with the in-
cultural heritage was built on the maintain influence with the ternational military and civil com-
positive experience of MINU- communities amongst whom ponents on the ground as well
SMA and on the expertise of the we’re operating. It’s about as to dialogue with and train lo-
Carabinieri TPC, which have the force protection of our cal police forces and staff as
gained extensive experience both personnel, including protection part of bigger awareness-raising
nationally and in crisis areas like against an adversary’s infor- objective. The establishment
Kosovo and Iraq since 1970. mation operations. It’s about a of a cultural heritage pro-
However, the Blue Helmets of Cul- better, richer cultural under- tection specialized police unit on
ture are not the culmination of standing of these communi- assignment with United Nations
the process of secularization of ties. It’s about countering threat peace operations would be a
cultural heritage, but rather a finance and long-term harm major step in the fight against
key “first step towards the elabo- caused by the illicit trafficking cultural heritage crimes – for
ration of a full-fledged cultural of cultural property. Finally, the very fact that the elabora-
peacebuilding doctrine” (Fora- by ensuring that we respect tion and adoption of a cultural
35
INTERNSHIP RESEARCH RESULTS
peacebuilding doctrine at UN France, Italy, and the United Kingdom.” The the world could do was watch together.” CNN
level inevitably means that the International Spectator, vol. Business, 15, Apr. 2019. edi-
same trainings and parameters to 50, no. 3, 2018, pp. 86-101. tion.cnn.com/2019/04/15/me-
which the peacekeepers are Frost, Natasha. “The very good reason why dia/notre-dame-firereactions/
compelled become an integral we grieve iconic buildings we’ve never seen.” index.html
part of any contributing country. Quartz, 16, Apr. 2019. qz.com/1596079/ Turku, Helga. The Destruction of Cultural Pro-
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exists; it just needs to be adopted are-mourning/ United Nations Security Council. Resolution on
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Erahimji, Alisha, Artemis Moshtaghian, and Sgarbi, Vittorio. Il Messaggero, Comment, 16,
Apr. 2019, via “Around the world, the Notre
Lauren M. Johnson. “Confederate statues are Dame fire inspires sadness, solidarity and
coming down following George Floyd’s death.
Here’s what we know.” CNN, 1, July. 2020. anger.” The Art Newspaper, 18 Apr. 2019.
www.theartnewspaper.com/2019/04/18/
edition.cnn.com/2020/06/09/ around-the-world-the-notre-da-
us/confederate-statues-remo-
ved-george-floyd-trnd/index.html me-fire-inspires-sadnesssolidarity-
and-anger
Foradori, Paolo, and P. Rosa. “Expanding the Sir Harold Nicolson, Marginal Comments,
peacekeeping agenda. e protection of cultural
heritage in war-torn societies”. Global Change, SPECTATOR, Feb. 25, 1944, in Merryman, J. H.
Two ways of thinking about cultural property. Giulia Ramundo
Peace and Security 29, no. 2 (2017): 145–60. The American Journal of International Law,
Foradori, Paolo, Serena Giusti, and Alessandro Art History & International Affairs
G. Lamonica. “Reshaping Cultural Heritage 80(4), 831–853, at 840. Graduate, Art & Cultural Heritage
Stelter, Brian. “Notre Dame was burning, and all Advocate
Protection Policies at a Time of Securitization:
36
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40
DEPUTY DIRECTOR’S CORNER
It is my great pleasure to wish everyone Season’s Greetings and a Joyous New
Year!
As I reflect over the last 12 months, I want to take a moment to thank the profes-
sional staff at CoESPU and our many International Partners for making 2021 a
huge success. The team at the CoESPU worked tirelessly to provide a safe and he-
althy learning environment – and help to manage the travel requirements for cour-
se attendees. Our CoESPU International Partners gave such a dedicated effort to
meet the numerous health requirements in order to travel to Italy. It is this type of
action and determination that made it possible to host six courses in-person on the
CoESPU campus.
In 2022, we look forward to seeing more of friendly faces around the CoESPU
campus attending the variety of scheduled courses, exercises, and workshops focu-
sed on Stability Policing.
To our esteemed Alumni, please continue to keep in touch – we enjoy seeing your
accomplishments both during mission and within your national responsibilities. I
am also excited that next year we will continue our Tutor program where Alumni
have the opportunity to return and tutor small groups within each course.
Now that we have entered the holiday period, I know many of our readers are
deployed away from your loved ones and friends. I thank
you for your dedication and hard work you perform each
day to support the many stability policing missions around
the world. As you finish at your mission in 2022, I wish
you a safe journey home.
Please have a safe and healthy New Year and I look
forward to greeting you in Vicenza!
Colonel Rebecca Hazelett Rebecca D. Hazelett
Col. - US Army MP
CoESPU Deputy Director
41
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AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
OF POLICE REFORMS AND
GENDER ISSUES IN AFGHANISTAN
An historical overview of police Security Sector Reform (SSR), whi- «accountability and respect for hu-
reforms and gender issues in ch the OECD has defined «help man rights and international law» 2.
Afghanistan partner countries establish appro- The SSR is, in fact, strongly linked
priate structures and mechanism to the promotion of human rights
by Federico Vecci to manage change and resolve in what is called the “Security and
& Fabio Sappino dispute through». The definition Development Nexus” (SDN) 3. The
of the OECD takes into account, emphasis on the first of the two
Security Sector Reform: challen- as part of the security system, all elements not only continues the
the core security actors, manage- tradition of defence cooperation as
ges and issues ment and oversight bodies, justice a means of foreign policy, but also
The awareness of the importance and law enforcement institutions uses security reforms as a means of
of police reform has grown along and non-statutory security forces. promoting democracy and human
with the development of the con- Other authors, such as Ball, take a rights. This objective is even more
cept of state building, which has more holistic approach, emphasi- important when placed in the con-
emphasized the shift from the zing both the need to alter «the re- text of a fragile state, developing or
need to improve the state (making lations of power within the sector in emerging from a conflict. The de-
it more responsive to its citizens) the direction of civil/constitutional velopment of a stable police force,
to the need to strengthen the sta- control to transform institutional respectful of democratic principles
te (making it capable of fulfilling culture, promote professionalism, and well structured, is essential to
its obligations)1.The reform of the improve resource utilization and ensure a transition process from a
police forces is therefore confi- operational effectiveness», but also state of conflict to a lasting peace.
gured as one of the pillars of the
42
In this phase, however, a series ce reform are dependent on, and cerns the often minor role of poli-
of issues arise: first, the difficulty not a determinant of democracy» ce reform plans within the broader
of fully delegating the reconstitu- 8. The risk of an excessively “op- scope of the SSR. Call and Stan-
tion of the police force to a state timistic” approach on the role of ley, for instance, found that in 23
that is emerging from a war situa- such reforms is also related to the transitions to democracy in Latin
tion, often without the necessary risk of imposing Western models America, only ten included explicit
expertise and THE RESOLUTION 1325 OF THE SECURITY COUN- references to poli-
resources 4. The ce reforms 11.This
importance of in- CIL OF THE UNITED NATIONS (UN) OF 2000 INITIA- is probably becau-
ternational sup- TED A CYCLE OF RESOLUTIONS, CALLED “WOMEN, se in a post-confli-
port in order to ct situation the fo-
allow the recon- PEACE AND SECURITY” (WPS), WHICH WAS RESPON- cus remains high
stituted police SIBLE FOR CODIFYING THE NEED TO IMPLEMENT on the military
force to actively THE GENDER PERSPECTIVE IN BOTH CONFLICT AND forces and more
participate in the generally on all
national recon- POST-CONFLICT MILITARY OPERATIONS, SUCH AS armed groups pre-
struction process POLICE REFORM ACTIVITIES
sent in the territory.
is noted. Then the question of whi- in different contexts, without eva- However, implementation gaps
ch role should be entrusted to new luating the cultural and local spe- are frequent even when police re-
body arises: if the police assume cificities, failing in its mandate. In forms are planned. First of all, due
the role of guardian of the peace addition, however, to the problems to the presence of unqualified im-
situation reached in a context of of communicability with the locals plementers 12, both for the lack of
high risk and fragility, the danger (the language issue has often cre- removal from office of elements
of its militarization is higher, lea- ated problems, in the absence of unsuitable for a police force, and
ding then to a subsequent need for translators, as happened in Haiti) 9 for the lack of adaptation to the
a de-securitization of the force. As 10, communication problems in the local reality, for the fact that each
Mani notes 5, in situations of con- chain of command are frequent in training project is modelled accor-
flict, since the boundary between cases of multi-national missions. ding to the preferences and style
external and internal security is Another important problem con- of the country that deals with the
thinned, distances and functions
between army and police are also
reduced. In this passage we find
the causes of the failure of nume-
rous attempts to reform the secu-
rity sector, namely, for Africa only,
Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bis-
sau, Somalia, Sudan, South Su-
dan, Mali, Côte D’Ivoire, Burundi,
Chad, Libya, the Central African
Republic (CAR), and the Demo-
cratic Republic of Congo (DRC) 6.
Another risk is to consider the Se-
curity Sector Reform as «the ca-
talyst for democratic change or
carry the transformational load» 7.
Obviously, the reform of law enfor-
cement is of primary importance
for the stabilization of a democra-
tic body, but it is good to remem-
ber, as Neild suggests, that «poli-
43
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training 13. The rigid application of incorporate a gender perspecti- policies or programmes, in any
models that do not take into ac- ve into peacekeeping operations, area and at all levels. It is a stra-
count the local reality and local and urges the Secretary-General tegy for making the concerns and
actors do not lead to lasting re- to ensure that, where appropriate, experiences of women as well as of
sults, especially from the moment field operations include a gender men an integral part of the design,
in which the external advisors ter- component; implementation, monitoring and
minate their mandate. It is there- 8. Calls on all actors involved, evaluation of policies and pro-
fore necessary that the latter be when negotiating and implemen- grammes in all political, economic,
particularly careful to avoid «pra- ting peace agreements, to adopt and societal spheres, so that wo-
etorian ambitions for power, fei- a gender perspective, including, men and men benefit equally, and
gned commitment to democracy, inter alia: inequality is not perpetuated. The
and the practice of clientelism» 14. (b) Measures that support local ultimate goal of mainstreaming is
The basic framework for the SSR women’s peace initiatives and to achieve gender equality» gender
is certainly what is enunciated by indigenous processes for conflict equality»17. The aim, in the words
the DAC Committee of the OECD, resolution, and that involve wo- of UN Women, is to bring atten-
which lists as principles in the con- men in all of the implementation tion to gender in «all policies, stra-
text of the reform of the security mechanisms of the peace agree- tegies and activities» 18, and one
forces: reforms as part of a bro- ments; of the most important methods for
ader development reform, a mul- 16. Invites the Secretary-General mainstreaming is the appointment
tisectoral approach to be develo- to carry out a study on the impact of figures such as gender advisors,
ped together with the government of armed conflict on women and with the role of providing «on-
and civil society (and women’s or- girls, the role of women in pea- going advice […] on how a gen-
ganizations play an important role ce-building and the gender dimen- der perspective can enhance the
here) and compliance with accoun- sions of peace processes and con- efficiency and effectiveness of the
tability and transparency criteria. flict resolution, and further invites contingent’s operational tasks» 19.
Having previously analysed the him to 4 S/RES/1325 (2000) sub- The Resolution had its effects, for
challenges still present in the po- mit a report to the Security Council example, in the context of UN’s
lice reform, we realize that «[t]hey on the results of this study and to Civilian Police (CIVPOL), which
provide general standards and go- make this available to all Member historically has always had low
als which are appropriate and le- States of the United Nations. 16 percentages of female personnel
gitimate for police reform projects, T gender equality». he Resolution (3% in Bosnia Herzegovina) 20,
but fail to reach far enough into emphasizes the desire to incor- where only 14% of the staff was
the policy process to get into the porate a gender perspective into made up of women in 2017 21.
specifics of implementation» 15. peacekeeping operations and The presence of female personnel,
above all to ensure the widest pos- in addition to being ethically right,
Mainstreaming gender in police sible participation of women in all produces benefits for the mission?
reform phases of the peace process: pre- First, as Skjelsbaek points out 22,
The Resolution 1325 of the Secu- vention, management, resolution it is necessary to reach a “critical
rity Council of the United Nations and reconstruction. And although mass” of at least 30% of female fi-
(UN) of 2000 initiated a cycle of resolution 1325 does not direct- gures in a mission, to influence the
Resolutions, called “Women, Pea- ly address SSR, it implicitly does objectives and the environment in
ce and Security” (WPS), which was so in calling for equal participa- which one operates. In fact, if at le-
responsible for codifying the need tion of women and gender main- ast 30 per cent of mission person-
to implement the gender perspecti- streaming in peace and security. nel are female, then local women
ve in both conflict and post-conflict What does gender mainstreaming more quickly join peace committe-
military operations, such as police mean? The UN’s Economic and So- es, which are less hierarchical and
reform activities. Among the most cial Council defined it as «the pro- more responsive to female con-
important points of the Resolu- cess of assessing the implications cerns. In Guatemala (MINUGUA)
tion for the area analysed here: for women and men of any plan- and South Africa (UNOMSA), for
5. Expresses its willingness to ned action, including legislation, example, the higher than avera-
44
ge presence of female personnel sexual exploitation and abuses) in- sence of female peacekeepers in
contributed to the full achievement volving women both as victims or Lebanon has helped to normali-
of the objectives 23. Furthermore, witnesses, being able to interact ze the presence of the mission 31.
local women trust more female more easily with civilians, «as they However, a holistic approach is
peacekeepers and women nego- appear less threatening and more needed, capable of changing the
tiators understand and articulate accessible to affected populations» gendered structure of missions by
the implications of peace proces- 28. In fact, the likelihood that cases operating on structures, practi-
ses for women better than men do of abuse will be reported in the pre- ces, chains of command and all
24. Gender balancing and recruit- sence of female police personnel is activities 32. It is therefore neces-
ment and retention of women in reportedly increasing 29. This role sary to go beyond mere inclu-
the security sector are important is also evident in the case of crimes sion, to reach full equal opportu-
because wo-
men are able carried out by the staff of an inter- nities in the operational domain,
to perform cer- national mission, acting as a de- even at decision-making levels.
tain tasks that terrent against possible violations Police building in Afghanistan
men are not. of the code of conduct. A study for The Afghan police force has its ori-
For example, the UN Division for the Advance- gins in the Hotak 33 and Durrani 34
where there is ment of Women found out that the empires in the early 18th century,
segregation of percentage of sexual misconducts and over the decades it was gra-
men and wo- in operations with a strong fema- dually modernized. The history of
men, as in Iraq le presence drops significantly. the Afghan National Police betwe-
and Afghani- Also consider a role, highlighted en 1920 and 1978 was domina-
stan, female by various authors 30, of legiti- ted by three Afghan leaders: King
police officers mizing the mission in the eyes of Amanullah (1919-29), King Zahir
are needed to civilians: Bridges and Horsfall Shah (1933-73), and Mohammad
search 25. Par- have highlighted how the pre-
ticularly in Af-
ghanistan, as
Erwin notes,
the Female En-
gagement Te-
ams have been
of primary
importance,
given the fe-
male segrega-
tion implemented by the Taliban,
being able to dialogue and recei-
ve information from local women,
as well to search other women at
check-points 26. Among the other
arguments for female ratio balan-
ce we also find the possibility of
playing a leading role in the host
community, especially for other
women in that community, while
ensuring a greater sense of secu-
rity 27. Sense of security and under-
standing that increases in impor-
tance in cases of crimes (especially
45
ALUMNI
Daoud (1973-78), all from the fessionalism of the police force 37. new recruits to the police service,
Durrani Pashtun tribe. Each leader After WWII, Afghan National Po- but it shot down after three years
shaped a national police force of lice started receiving an extended when the northern mujahidin al-
varying size and responsibility: the international training; the Soviet liance took power; in the absen-
first one, King Amanullah, formed Union supplied trainers to the Poli- ce of an effective governance du-
a limited police structure, simply ce Force and by the 1950s the pri- ring the mujahidin era, in the early
called “security”; this police for- mary mentor was Turkey 38. During 1990s, lawlessness and fighting
ce did not play an effective role in the 1960s and 70s, the ANP con- spread across most Afghanistan
providing security to Afghan peo- sisted of a professionally twin-track subjecting the authorities facilita-
ple, and local Afghan government system of careers consisting of trai- ted the rise of Taliban regime lea-
remained largely traditional and ned officer corps and an untrai- ving the Country into anarchy and
informal, relying on village elders ned conscript force under them 39, chaos. At that point, the country
to maintain the public order 35. both formed by a combined men- descend into civil war and a vio-
The first official police structure toring effort from East and West lent enforcement of a rigid inter-
was established in 1936 under Germany 40, the Kabul Police Aca- pretation of ultra-orthodox Isla-
King Zahir Shah; their training and demy sent on a yearly basis five mic/Pashtun tribal norms was in
assembly was developed around of the top police students to Ger- place; policing was then included
a Police Training Center located many to get their master’s degre- under the Ministry of Enforcement
in the capital and coincided also es in criminology and police work. of Virtute and Suppression of Vice.
with the establishment of the Mi- Following the Russian invasion in Sources regarding the history of
nistry of Interior. In THE PRESENCE OF FEMALE PERSONNEL, IN ADDI- police in Afgha-
1941, Police and nistan from 1996
Gendarmerie were TION TO BEING ETHICALLY RIGHT, PRODUCES BE- to 2001 are very
reorganized on a NEFITS FOR THE MISSION? FIRST, AS SKJELSBAEK limited due to
military basis, de-
POINTS OUT, IT IS NECESSARY TO REACH A “CRITI- the scarce natu-
ployed down to the CAL MASS” OF AT LEAST 30% OF FEMALE FIGURES re of resources
sub-district level, and the narrow
and focused speci- IN A MISSION, TO INFLUENCE THE OBJECTIVES AND role played in
fically on the cities. THE ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH ONE OPERATES maintaining na-
In 1947 the Police tion-widesecurity.
Service was renamed to “Police and 1979, the police force was demo- After the collapse of the Taliban
Gendarmes General Command” lished. Having received an exten- government in late 2001, the-
and designed as a Police Force to sive Soviet-style training (as many re was little in the nation resem-
provide internal security in cities, of today’s officers who are con- bling a functional police depart-
whereas Gendarmes were focused sidered “professional”), the poli- ment as private armed militias
on the security of the borders 36. ce was replaced by the Sarandoy controlled by warlords quickly fil-
Until the 1970s, the National Police Defenders of the Revolution, an led the vacuum left behind by a
Force was effective enough apart Afghan Regional Gendarmerie, lack of central governance. The
from a minimal corruption centred and the Khadamat-e Artla’at-e Ministry of Interior exercised little
on petty bribery. It did however suf- Dawlati (KhAD) which served as or no control over provincial po-
fer from an image problem, as the secret police 41. From 1978 to lice structures and was comple-
police were not seen as servants 1992 the Afghan Police had firm tely ineffective and unable to se-
of the public but viewed instead as control over the country, much cure remote areas of Afghanistan.
servants of the ruler. At that time, thanks to the Soviet Union. Tradi- As soon as the Taliban regime
Afghanistan was governed as a tionally, police officers were po- was overthrown in 2001, the in-
monarchical state, and central go- orly paid, recruited or conscripted ternational community stepped
vernance did not penetrate far into from the poorest classes of society in to rebuild legitimacy of po-
the remote areas of the country; and frequently held in contempt lice and the security sector; Af-
peace and security was maintai- by the communities they served 42. ghanistan seemed to have em-
ned through the perceived legiti- In 1989, a Police Academy was barked upon a new beginning.
macy of ruler rather than the pro- re-established in Kabul to train In 2002, the reconstruction of Po-
46
lice Services was taken over by re-opened Kabul Police Academy - tary training given the complexity
Germany, involving BGS (Bun- was largely Kabul-centred offering
desgrenzschutz) and BKA (Bun- three-years courses for officers and riskiness of the new priority
deskriminalamt) 43, in charge to and one-year courses for NCOs;
re-shape, equip, train and advise however, becoming evident the ur- operational theatres for Kabul48.
the new ANP. 44 In the following ye- gency of a solid and quick reform,
ars, Germany increased its funds US increasingly injected money to Wanting to make an analysis of the
(from 15.9 million euros in 2006 boost the re-establishment of a na-
to 53.7 million in 2009) 45, but this tionwide community oriented and results obtained to date, it is possi-
did not lead to an increase in local people focused effective police ser-
staff. Therefore, to avoid the dou- vice creating in 2003 seven RTCs ble to say that the reform process
ble pressure of increased spending (Regional Training Centres) to train
and the loss of relevance in the face police rapidly through DynCorp, of the Afghan police forces suffers
of US efforts, Berlin decided to in- a private contracting Company.
from a series of failures. First, the
volve the European Union. Indeed, The protagonist of the police-bu-
in 2007 the European Union Police ilding activity, in fact, would have high level of corruption and pa-
Mission (EUPOL) was started. EU- been NATO with the NATO Training
POL’s main task was to advise hi- Mission – Afghanistan (NTM-A), tronage, which often leads to the
gh-ranking officials at the Afghan which provided approximately
Ministry of Interior Affairs as well one billion US dollars per month configuration of police units as
as ANP officers at the strategic le- for training, equipping and paying
vel. Right from the start, however, the Afghan security forces Afghan gangs in the service of local po-
EUPOL was affected by a series of security forces47. Starting with NA-
problems: instead of the 195 uni- TO’s “overtaking” in the manage- tentates, with very strong repercus-
ts planned at the beginning, only ment of the ANP reform in 2010,
95 were actually deployed, and however, a process of militarization sions on the rule of law, credibility
the divisions between the member of the Afghan police began, since
states regarding the direction to be the ANP was increasingly invol- in the eyes of Af-
given to the mission did nothing ved in the repression of the opium
but favour its fragmentation 46. trafficking and counter-insurgen- ghan citizens and
German rebuilding – focused on the cy, thus requiring practically mili-
obviously on the
professionaliza-
tion of the police.
The aspect of pro-
fessionalization is
by no means se-
condary, since a
strategy was pur-
sued that focused
more on quanti-
ty than quality49.
Such differences
in training and
perspectives com-
bined with an-
cient tribal structu-
re of such vast
country, reflected
that the commonality of the
International Communi-
ty was a matter of papers only.
Just before the fall of the Govern-
ment of the Islamic Republic of Af-
ghanistan (GIRoA) in August 2021
however, some reports illumina-
ted a Police Service succeeding
in establishing the trust of citizens
and an emerging rule of law; with
all constraints and restraints impo-
sed by the complex situation of the
country; truthfully, the perceived le-
vel of illiteracy hindered a full and
complete development of the MOI
and police services and was also
evident that - through the reports
47
ALUMNI
of the oversight authori- Once it became clear that the bu- this gap was undeniable in the last
ty of the Special Inspec- ilding of the ANP was not progres- years of western presence in the
tor General for Afghan sing quickly enough (2009), the US Country. While the Afghan Natio-
Reconstruction (SIGAR) assumed a lead role in re-building nal Police played a vital role in se-
- the Afghan National the Police in Afghanistan and the curing the Country, they were not
Police and Afghan Lo- militarization of police forces was receiving proper training, modern
cal Police (as well as boosted, shifting the strategy in equipment or adequately manned
many other security favour of counterinsurgency. This to do so. Lieutenant General Ja-
agencies in the country) so-called “militarization” of the mes Dubik wrote in July 2009 a
suffered from serious ANP was therefore at best ineffecti- memo that every Afghan police le-
problems of corruption ve and, at worst, counterproducti- ader with whom he spoke, as well
and political influence. ve; only a police force, trusted by as every Police Advisor or trainer,
Despite robust efforts, the people, can really be effective agreed that the current use of the
reforms had not prepa- in guaranteeing safety and security. ANP to fight insurgents, was not
red security organiza- As nations continued to differ in what the ANP has been trained,
tions to operate effecti- training philosophies, the Pea- organized, and equipped to do.
vely in law enforcement ce Research Institute Frankfurt’s Sadly, the international commu-
as well as in paramilitary (PRIF) study reported that the trai- nity’s heavy investments in po-
operations (although ning concentrated mainly on mi- lice education, training, men-
paramilitary operations litary skills. A recurrent Provincial toring, and equipping have
are not usually conside- Police Commanders request was led to a large but only mar-
red as a proper “police to boost military training on hea- ginally effective police force.
task”…), as confirmed by a study vy weapons (mortars, RPGs…) de-
in late 2019 presented by Anthony spite a desperate lack of supplies. Gender integration into the bro-
Cordesman: «Corruption and po- Furthermore, the rate at which ader ANP reform
litical influence will present new the police were being militarized Since 1960, only a small number
challenges if the ANP are tasked drove to increase the rift between of women have served in the po-
with helping to enforce peace, and themselves and the public, and lice. The issue of gender mainstre-
if the Afghan government is to cre- aming was recalled as a priority
ate a truly functional legal and law both by the Ministry of the Interior
enforcement system», he stated50. and the international communi-
In addition to this, a 2017 Crisis ty. The room reserved for the pro-
Group Asia’s article highlighted blem in the Afghanistan Compact
that ANP officer appointments were approved at the 2006 London
often patronage-based (crystal Conference on Afghanistan is not
clear to everyone in close contact so wide52; the plan formed the
with police leadership), and staff basis for the Ministry of Women’s
positions were stacked with junior Affairs to promote the National
inexperienced officers, appointed Action Plan for the Women of Af-
due to nepotism, corruption and ghanistan (NAPWA), with propo-
at times did not possess the ability sals also aimed at gender main-
to read nor write51. In this regard, streaming in the police force. The
it is also evident that competing NAPWA provided, in fact, a per-
philosophies of nation building centage of women equal to 30%
occurred concurrently with diffe- between the army and police units.
ring opinions on best methods of A percentage of this kind, howe-
training, developing, and establi- ver, lacks realism, since not even
shing the security services in Af- the most advanced states on this
ghanistan in the last two decades front at the time of the Compact
was basically a (complete?) failure. reached similar percentages53.
48
As soon as Talibans came to Women and girls were routinely ab- In February 2003, the Police Aca-
power, they banned women from ducted and sexually abused by sol- demy started a recruitment drive
employment, with targeting women from every pro-
just a few excep- diers from different militia factions, vince in Afghanistan and $475,000
tions in the health the police, and former warlords. were allocated to it; in recognition
sector. Since the Given the weaknesses of Afghani- of the prohibition of education for
establishment of stan’s legal system, women were women during Taliban rule, wo-
the Afghan Inte- (and so far are) reluctant to report men were given remedial educa-
rim Administration violence, rape or sexual abuse. tion to ensure that women recru-
in 2001, women With the overthrow of the Taliban its meet the same standards as
returned to work, regime in 2001, Afghanistan se- men. At the same time, a “wo-
but their lack of ems to have embarked upon a men’s only” dormitory was built
education had a new beginning and the vital con- at the Police Academy as well as
severe impact on tribution of women to Afghan so- a specific training for women ente-
their employment ciety is openly recognised (at le- ring the middle ranks of the police
opportunities, and ast, on paper). Women’s rights was instituted in the provinces to
to build an effi- are legitimised by Articles 22, 44 encourage recruitment of women
cient, effective, and 54 of the Afghan Constitution who may be deterred by having
affordable, and and the Bonn Agreement establi- to leave home to train in Kabul.
sustainable Poli- shed the Ministry of Women’s Af- Furthermore, in the National Police
ce Service all over fairs; Afghanistan is also a par- Plan (2010) and Strategy (2011)
the Country was ty to international instruments on the hiring of 5.000 women in the
a primary chal- the equal rights of women, inclu- police was foreseen by 2014, re-
lenge for the Go- ding CEDAW and the Beijing De- presenting 3% of the total. Even
vernment of the claration and Platform for Action. more ambitious is the Ten Year Vi-
Islamic Republic sion, which aims for 10% of wo-
of Afghanistan. men for both the police and the
Reports circula- Minister of the Interior by 2024,
ting during the pandemic (so, in order to create an environment
after almost 20 years) illuminated that can favour female careers in
that 1 out of 3 women in Afgha- the field of security in the future.
nistan were economically active The numbers demonstrate the dif-
(a large part of them were wor- ficulty of achieving this goal, al-
king in the agricultural sector), though a slight increase can be
and on average they receive three appreciated over time. For exam-
times less in wages than men. ple, if in the 2005, of a police for-
In 2007, the United Nations As- ce of 53.400, only 180 were wo-
sistance Mission in Afghanistan men (0.3%), in July 2013, there
(UNAMA) received over 2,000 were 1,551 female police out of
complaints of gender-based vio- a force of 157.000. To impose a
lence ranging from physical vio- new route and decisive swerve,
lence and brutality to sexual and Human Rights training was pro-
psychological violence; 82 per vided to the Police institutions, in-
cent of cases of violence were per- cluding modules on gender sen-
petrated by family members. Ab- sitivity, and a conference entitled
ductions, violence, and threats “Islamic Policewomen Contribu-
were also used to intimidate fema- ting to a Secure Future” was held
le political activists, thus effectively in October 2007 to provide role
limiting women’s participation in models for Afghan policewomen.
civil society and the public sphere. However, some of these actions
49
ALUMNI
met huge obstacles; women faced After years of collective efforts of re of mistakes. Indeed, the 2021
considerable difficulties in joining the international community, the report by the United States Special
the police due to pressures to con- sincere commitment and genui- Inspector General for Afghanistan
form to religious, social, and beha- ne support of the Afghan leader- Reconstruction (SIGAR) on lessons
vioural codes (restricted employ- ship in increasing the challenging learned concedes that a failu-
ment and participation in public presence of women in the ANDSF re to appreciate the Afghan con-
life) as well as practical difficulties (ministerial commitment is usual- text “undercut” efforts to advan-
in attending training far away from ly personality-based and as such, ce gender equality – a reflection
home due to roles and relation- very fragile), few females were also that is equally relevant to policing.
ships between men and women, able to gain some space and key Now the situation has been drama-
family settings, culture, and tradi- leadership positions in the MoI. tically turned around as the Taliban
tion and whether people live in ei- Furthermore, a slow increasing in regime is establishing his pervasive
ther urban or rural environments54. recruiting a specific number of wo- power in the country. Policewomen
Not being allowed to travel or live men to the ANDSF per year was are now in danger, victims of sto-
alone and not properly tailored noted; the need to have Afghan so- ning or targeted killings along with
uniforms intensely impact on fe- lutions (true ‘integration’ in a very women judges, journalists, and
male personnel and made difficult segregated culture is a bridge too human rights defenders, and even
for them to go on patrol without far) was, at that time, desperate. their families are threatened. The
offending religious sensibilities. In fact, before the fall of the Isla- international community trained
During a long and complex de- mic Republic of Afghanistan in late and prepared them to put their li-
ployment in Herat from mid-2019 august 2021, ANDSF successfully ves on the line but has suddenly
to late 202055, it happened that integrated women into the ANP, and woefully abandoned them.
police women were not only at signing Gender inclusive policies In recent months, some women
risk of assassination, violence or and enhancing operational ef- who served in the Ministry of In-
reprisal from extremists, but also fectiveness and security capacity terior Affairs or Afghan Natio-
from the community and their own as well as contributing to the le- nal Police have fled Afghanistan
family members. Thus, in gene- gitimacy of women’s participation due to direct threats to their life
ral, women and girls are unde- in peace processes with a registe- because they are often seen as
remployed and have to seek fa- red gradual growth of females in transgressing gender norms and
mily permission to do anything; 2020, despite the pandemic; last “moral” boundaries of what is ac-
in addition, they are more likely reports illuminated a 2.88% per- ceptable within religious and con-
to be vulnerable to exploitation centage of females working in servative practices and norms.
and limited in participating in de- the ANP (=3,637) all around the In conclusion, four were the main
cision-making processes due to a country (in the same timeframe, reasons why the inclusion of fe-
limited access to education and ANA reported a 0.91% and 1.636). male figures in the Afghan police
employment. Women deal also In addition, in early 2021, wo- force was crucial. First of all, to
with ethnicity (as of late 2020, one men police in Afghanistan re- maintain effective security, as in
third of policewomen were ethnic ached a proportion of 2.6% (a the case of searches of other wo-
Hazaras) and tribal allegiances, peak of 5% has been reported men. In fact, Islamic values would
widespread gender-based violen- from Herat Police Provincial HQ not allow a woman to be sear-
ce (GBV affected 53% of the po- – or just over 4,000 of an estima- ched for by a person of the op-
pulation), harassment and norma- ted 157,000 strong force). It was posite sex, or even to carry out
lised domestic violence that poses the highest ratio since the interna- inspections in a house where wo-
women in a daily security risk, tional community pushed to em- men are present. Then, as mentio-
a complex external environment bark on gender-responsive poli- ned above, women play a leading
(70% of population lives in remo- cing reforms over a decade earlier. role in reporting and repressing
te rural areas) and, finally, cultu- Like other critiques of the suitabi- abuse and violence at home.
ral, religious, structural and social lity of international interventions Even in the presence of female cri-
barriers, precarious socio-econo- in Afghanistan, efforts to promote minals, respect for the rule of law
mic status and marginalisation. gender equality include its fair sha- and the dignity of a woman under
50
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