The United Arab Emirates commenced by examining the escalation in conflicts and challenges confronting global UN police capabilities, emphasizing their pivotal role in safeguarding civilians, ensuring community safety, and fortifying national institutions.
Underlining the UAE Ministry of Interior's commitment support for global peace plans and five-year UN initiatives. These initiatives aim to modernize the UN's peace and security structure, including police services, for enhanced readiness against current and emerging challenges in Four main points. Crucially, the first emphasized adherence to UN police performance standards, essential not only for mission execution but also for community perception. Increased transparency in incident reporting and data utilization were considered integral to the overall planning and evaluation system. Early warnings, training sessions, and pre-deployment elements were noted as crucial for operational readiness, enhancing United Nations police performance. Last September, the UAE hosted a workshop in Abu Dhabi for the second time, supporting police operations. This gathering brought together leaders from peace operations and special political missions to exchange insights on performance and efforts.
The second point, asserting that United Nations police work can benefit from regional partnerships. The UAE believes cooperation with regional police organizations is crucial for context-aware policing. The work of the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Policing is a vital opportunity to assess the effectiveness of UN policy assistance efforts, identify gaps in support, and determine synergy between UN mechanisms and regional and sub-regional policing structures. Transitioning to the third point, it was stressed that UN peacekeeping forces must act as responsible custodians of their environment. With climate change contributing to instability and affecting agricultural patterns, peacekeeping missions must avoid harming the environment. This perspective underscores the importance of the UAE's launch of the "Energy Charter on Renewable Energy in UN Peacekeeping Operations."
One major initiative of the United Arab Emirates to the world was the International Initiative of Law Enforcement for Climate (I2LEC), supporting the environmental strategy of the UN Secretariat. The UAE collaborates closely with the United Nations Police and partners, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Interpol, ESRI, Ameripol, Europol, AFRIPOL, ASEANAPOL, GCCPOL, ACCP, the US Department of Homeland Security, the Joint Environmental Unit of UNEP and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in order to strengthen the capacity of law enforcement to prevent and combat crimes affecting the environment and climate change. Through I2LEC, the UAE has initiated five global initiatives to combat environmental crimes in the South and North: a climate operations unit led by Interpol, a global preparedness assessment, research on environmental crimes by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and a global training center in Abu Dhabi, in addition to the environmental preparedness initiative aimed at reducing carbon emissions. This year, the UAE will host a ministerial forum on climate resilience, titled "Empowering Law Enforcement for a Greener Future," on the sidelines of (COP28) in Dubai at the end of this month.
Lt. Col. Dana Humaid Director General of International Affairs Bureau at Ministry of Interior