Where We Work

• Afghanistan ( 18 Articles )
  

  An international partnership of 43 nations is working with the government and people of Afghanistan to build a country able to provide security, services and economic opportunity for its people. Since 2006, responsibility for Helmand, the country's largest province, has rested with the UK.
  
  Based outside Helmand's capital Lashkar Gar, a UK-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), is working to:
  
  restore security;
  promote fair and equitable justice;
  deliver basic services; and
  directly tackle the insurgency.
  The PRT is a joint civilian and military team of 165 people, including 80 civilians. The Stabilisation Unit provides over 30 of these civilian experts, not just to Lashkar Gar, but also to the front line forward operating bases working directly with the military battlegroups and Afghan government.
  
  The Stabilisation Unit can draw on people from a database of 1000 experts, from agricultural advisers to economists, project managers to retired police officers, and provide them with the training and equipment necessary to deploy to Afghanistan. In Helmand, our experts are currently promoting the rule of law, developing local government institutions, stabilising outlying districts and countering the narcotics industry. We have Stabilisation Advisers on the front line in seven districts, up from just one in 2007.
  
  We also work closely with the military before they deploy. Twice a year the Stabilisation Unit joins the military on Salisbury Plain to participate in the final and largest ‘in-the-field’ exercise before deployment. The aim is to develop a common understanding of the key issues in Afghanistan and facilitate planning; helping both the civilians and the military to work effectively together in the field.
  
  The UK is committed to Afghanistan for the long term and our efforts are achieving positive results. The provision of such tangible benefits underpins confidence in the political process and the Afghan state itself.

   

   

   

• Democratic Republic of Congo ( 1 Article )
  

  The Stabilisation Unit has deployed a stabilisation advisor to MONUSCO (previously MONUC, the UN peacekeeping mission) since 2008. Until 2011 the role was based in the Eastern Co-ordinator's Office in Goma. Key areas of focus included political advice to the Eastern Co-ordinator, reducing human rights abuses of the Congolese armed forces and co-ordinating the UN's response to the Lord's Resistance Army. The position is now based in the Deputy SRSG's office in Kinshasa, where the stabilisation advisor provides advice on stabilisation activities in the East and co-ordinates the UN's Peace Consolidation Programme for the West. SU also provides additional stabilisation support to HMG and international partners as requested, including participation in the annual reviews of DFID's security sector, accountability and police reform programme

• Haiti ( 1 Article )
  

  In January 2010 almost 5,000 prisoners escaped or were released from falling buildings in the aftermath of the earthquake, allowing gangs of criminals to return to the streets of Port-au-Prince. The Stabilisation Unit has responded to a direct request from the Government of Haiti and the UN mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) to provide targeted assistance to the prison sector. A team of  prison  experts from the CSG  were deployed to Port-au-Prince for six months to help rebuild and refurbish prisons destroyed in the earthquake.

  The team also provided advice to the Haitian prison authorities on improving the management and operation of prisons by better security and contingency planning and on meeting international standards for prisons. They worked closely with the Haitian Government and international partners to help get the prison sector back on track. 

• Iraq ( 3 Articles )
  

  In Iraq, the Stabilisation Unit have seconded 5 UK secondees (DCEs and a serving police officer) working for the EUJUSTLEX Mission. These secondees are collectively located in Baghdad, Erbil and Brussels.

  Previously, the Stabilisation Unit has been involved in supporting Basra Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) through provision of its first three team leaders, and advice and reviews.  Now that the Basra PRT has been handed over to the US, and relations between the UK and Iraq move towards a more normal bilateral relationship, the Stabilisation Unit's remaining involvement in Iraq is to conduct reviews of programmes on behalf of its parent departments, for example the review of the Ministry of Interior and Iraqi Police Service capacity building programme in November 2009.

• Other Countries ( 4 Articles )
  

  

  KOSOVO

  In Kosovo, the Stabilisation Unit (SU) currently deploy a total of 38 secondees which comprises of Deployable Civilian Experts (DCEs) and Police Officers in the EULEX Mission which focuses on Mentoring, Monitoring and Advisory (MMA). The Security and Justice Group within the SU have been part of the tri-departmental development and assessment of the security assistance programme and have recently been approached to lead for the UK on their forthcoming national security review.

   

  ISRAEL AND OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES

  We second civilian experts and police officers as Senior Police and Rule of Law Advisers to the European Union Co-ordination Office for Palestinian Police Support (EUCOPPS) training and advisory mission to the PA. There are currently five deployed.   We have also recently deployed a CSG member to Israel and the OPTS in June 2011 in support of security and justice work.

   

  SOMALIA

  Somalia In the summer of 2009, the Stabilisation Unit was commissioned to facilitate a new cross-Whitehall strategy on Somalia. The Unit launched the process by convening a series of workshops in London and concluding in Nairobi to examine departmental interests and objectives. The outcome from each workshop was written up and used to feed into the new strategy being drafted by the Foreign and Commonwealth office (FCO). In addition to the strategy work, the Unit also engaged with the AU and AMISOM in late 2009 on stabilisation lessons. The Unit also currently deploys a Stabilisation Advisor to the cross-Government Somalia team based in the Nairobi.

   

  ETHIOPIA

  Since 2008, technical support has been provided to Ethiopia Ministry of National Defence (EMOND) modernisation and reform with specific focus on Human Resource Management, Logistics, Finance, Budget and Procurement.  The SU has also provided support to the design mission for DFID Ethiopia's Community Security and Justice (CSJ) Programme which started in October 2011. The work includes engagement with in-country stakeholders, sector assessment and workshops with the full team to discuss the findings. Planned date for a draft business case for the CSJ is 31 January 2012.

  
  SIERRA LEONE

  In 2011, the Security and Justice Group are conducting on behalf of FCO a Police capability which will help inform future UK Government programming in this area. The Team are also in discussion with DFID Sierra Leone on an election security programme which may lead to the deployment of Civilian Stabilisation Group members.

  
  GEORGIA
   
  The Security and Justice Group have been engaged since before the 2003 revolution where we have played a major role in the development of their security processes, structures and capacity. Our efforts have supported institutional development across the security sector where progress has been both significant and sustainable. In Georgia, there are currently 20 UK secondees (Police officers and DCEs) deployed to the EU Monitoring Mission. UK secondees undertake Headquarters positions (located in Tbilisi) and monitoring roles in EU Field Offices within the regions.

  
  MOLDOVA

  The Security and Justice Group have been the partner of choice in carrying out a comprehensive defence and security review, and the only other nation to hold a seat on their Ministerial SDR Commission. This has been continued through two different governments and a series of Ministers.

  
  NEPAL

  Following the signing of the peace agreement at the end of 2006, the Stabilisation Unit undertook a scoping mission to assist the Embassy and DFID to examine what opportunities existed for peace building /stabilisation support to the Government of Nepal. In 2007, SU led a study of public security and civil security consultation for the Government of Nepal. In 2010 the Security and Justice Group produced a report on the options available for HMG to support the Nepalese Ministry of Defence as part of HMG's wider engagement in Nepal.