Foreign missions by the German police

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Traditionally, the German police are designed exclusively to maintain security and order within the Federal Republic. This is also regulated accordingly by law. In recent years, however, these activities, which were previously regulated by law, have also been carried out by the German police abroad . The reason, sometimes criticized, is that Germany has a global political responsibility to create humanitarian living conditions as well as to provide aid in crisis regions and to prevent murder , displacement and human rights violations .

In February 2018, 232 German police officers were deployed in 19 international police missions worldwide; only one German official is present on three missions. In three missions, the promised German officials are still completely missing.

discourse

It is controversial whether the German involvement in the context of international crisis management actually helps to safeguard domestic political interests. The debate is similar to the discussion that has flared up about whether the Federal Republic can actually be defended “in the Hindu Kush” by German soldiers in the war in Afghanistan , which politicians both named and denied.

The supporters of the operations argue that the stabilization of national and international security would also prevent the flow of refugees worldwide and enable refugees to return to their homeland. In addition, strengthening the rule of law and civil society in the affected countries ultimately also serves to combat cross-border, organized crime , which makes use of the lack of constitutional structures in former war and crisis areas for its own purposes.

Calls

German police officers in Afghanistan
German police officers training the Afghan security forces

German police officers have been taking part in missions abroad since August 1989. The first Federal Border Guard officers were deployed within the framework of UNTAG in Namibia. After deployments in Cambodia ( UNTAC 1992), the Western Sahara ( MINURSO 1993) and on the Danube (WEU Danube 1993), German police officers from the state police also began their first assignment abroad on October 13, 1994 . They supported the German WEU administrator Hans Koschnick on his mission in the city of Mostar during the civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina .

The main focus is on German police officers in the Balkans (Bosnia-Herzegovina: WEU Mostar Administration, UNMIBH and EUPM ; Albania: WEU MAPE; Croatia: OSCE PMG; Kosovo: OSCE KVM, UNMIK; Macedonia: EU PROXIMA), but also in Georgia ( UNOMIG ) , Afghanistan (GPPT) and Liberia ( UNMIL ) as well as Sudan ( Darfur and South Sudan ) have been deployed more than 4,300 times. To this day, many police officers have repeatedly taken part in foreign missions.

In the fight against terrorism , German police forces appear at major foreign European sporting events. The legal basis is the guidelines for cooperation between Member States to prevent terrorist attacks at the Olympic Games and other similar sporting events of the European Council . There they act without sovereign rights . The same applies to foreign police forces during the 2006 World Cup (see also answer to a small question in the Bundestag ). According to media reports, foreign police officers are to be given sovereignty.

As of February 25, 2018, a total of 231 officers were deployed, including 87 federal law enforcement officers, 144 law enforcement officers from the state police forces and 5 customs officers on behalf of the United Nations , the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). In the operational areas of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia , Afghanistan, Kosovo , Georgia, Liberia and Sudan, they are an integral part of the peacekeeping and peacekeeping UN missions or are involved in the EU's civil crisis management. On July 13th and 18th, the German police officers involved in UNMISS were flown out due to the security situation. In response, the United Nations removed Germany from the mission. The traditionally strongest state contingent in the German Police Contingent (GEPOLCON) is North Rhine-Westphalia .

Strength of German police units abroad (as of February 11, 2018)
No. country Mission name Deployed police officers Beginning of the mission
1 Palestine EUBAM Rafah 0 law enforcement officer November 2005
2 Palestine EUPOL COPPS 1 law enforcement officer January 2006
3 Sudan ( Darfur ) UNAMID 7 law enforcement officers January 2008
4th Georgia EUMM Georgia 11 law enforcement officers October 2008
5 Afghanistan GPPT German Police Project Team (bilateral) 53 law enforcement officers April 2002
6th Moldova / Ukraine EUBAM Moldova 5 customs officers / 1 law enforcement officer November 2005
7th Kosovo ( Serbia ) UNMIK 2 law enforcement officers July 1999
8th Kosovo ( Serbia ) EULEX Kosovo 23 law enforcement officers June 2008
9 Liberia UNMIL 1 law enforcement officer November 2004
10 Mali MINUSMA 12 law enforcement officers July 2013
11 Ukraine OSCE SMM 2 law enforcement officers March 2014
12 Ukraine EUAM Ukraine 5 law enforcement officers July 2014
13 Iraq EUAM Iraq 0 law enforcement officers November 2017
14th Mali EUCAP Sahel Mali 1 law enforcement officer January 2015
15th Niger EUCAP Sahel Niger 2 law enforcement officers December 2016
16 Libya EUBAM Libya 0 law enforcement officers February 2013
17th Haiti MINUJUSTH 2 law enforcement officers October 2017
18th Somalia UNSOM 3 law enforcement officers May 2016
19th Greece , Italy , Bulgaria FRONTEX 88 law enforcement officers November 2015
- South Sudan UNMISS 0 law enforcement officers since July 2011

Focus of work

Multicultural competence, strength of character, the ability to work in a team , high level of commitment , self-management and diplomatic skills are the basic requirements for German police officers in international peace missions. The nationwide two designated training locations for police missions abroad in Lübeck ( Federal Police ) and Brühl (State Office for Education and Training and Personnel Matters - LAFP) take these circumstances into account through targeted deployment preparation.

Depending on the mission mandate, the German police officers have different priorities. They exercised an executive mandate exclusively in Kosovo as part of the United Nation Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo ( UNMIK ). Advice, support and supervision of the development of local police organizations is usually the focus of the international community. A functioning, reliable and trustworthy police organization operating according to democratic principles is essential for the stability and reconstruction of a post-conflict area.

When equipping officers of the German police on missions abroad, some special features must be observed, for example, the use of the police mission cartridge is not permitted in war and civil war areas according to the Geneva Convention and the Hague Land Warfare Regulations. As permanent equipment, protective vests protection class 4 and field and bivouac equipment for overland operations are necessary and must be carried with them.

charges

The duration of the assignment for the German police officers is generally six months with the possibility of an extension of a further six months. During the missions, they wear German uniforms, on which a German flag and the sovereignty symbols of the mandateer are attached.

In particular, the European police officers in the mission areas are confronted with stressful working and living conditions that cannot be compared with the national local conditions. As a rule, the infrastructure of the operational area is destroyed. In contrast to the Bundeswehr soldiers, the German police officers are not housed in collective accommodation or camps. Through self-management they organize their accommodation for the duration of the assignment on the respective "free housing market". Bottlenecks in the water, gas and electricity supply are the norm. Environmental and air pollution, chaotic traffic, high levels of violence and crime rates, as well as the tragedies of misery and displacement are everyday and omnipresent stressors . In the reorganization of the often corrupt police organizations, which as a rule do not operate according to the rule of law, in the respective areas of operation, German police officers are repeatedly at the focus of domestic tensions, ethnic, religious and social conflicts.

In operational areas with an increased risk of attack and in areas of civil war such as Afghanistan, police officers from operational missions are sometimes housed in the military camps and are supplied and looked after by the Bundeswehr's supply facilities.

See also

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c German participation in international police missions . (PDF; 59 kB) Federal Police Headquarters , as of February 25, 2018, accessed on March 13, 2018.
  2. ↑ Georg Schwarte: The wrong signal at the wrong time. UN criticizes the withdrawal of German police from South Sudan. In: Tagesschau.de. July 22, 2016. Retrieved July 22, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Georg Schwarte: The wrong signal at the wrong time. UN criticizes the withdrawal of German police from South Sudan. In: Tagesschau.de. July 22, 2016. Retrieved July 22, 2016 .

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