Search for Common Ground Police, Protection and Coordination in Timor-Leste

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Search for Common Ground Police, Protection and Coordination in Timor-Leste

Svoboda E. / Davey E.

With two military interventions and five UN missions over the course of nearly 13 years, Timor-Leste’s experience of international engagement is extensive, despite only recently celebrating its tenth anniversary as an independent nation. Similarly, with international policing missions beginning in the 1960s the UN’s involvement in policing is longstanding – although it has grown significantly in scale and ambition over the last 20 years. This study uses the experience of Timor-Leste to explore the place of policing within civil–military coordination. It examines the evolution of policing in UN missions in Timor-Leste between 1999 and 2012, highlighting their impact on the development of the National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL) and the PNTL’s relationship with the Timorese military, the Timor-Leste Defence Force (F-FDTL). It looks in particular at the violence that flared up in the country in April–June 2006, and examines the coordination mechanisms and actors involved in the response.