UNPOL and Police Reform in Timor-Leste: Accomplishments and Setbacks

Following the 2006 gang violence in Timor-Leste amid dissension between the two main security institutions in the country, the Timor-Leste Defence Force (F–FDTL) and the National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL), the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1704, establishing a UN multidimensional, integrated mission, including UN police with an executive policing mandate, to ensure the restoration and maintenance of public security. With the mission winding down in 2009, this article offers an early assessment of its accomplishments and setbacks in the realm of security and public order, emphasizing the UNPOL leg of the mission. If the mission succeeded in restoring a modicum of security in Timor-Leste, it fell short of effectively assisting the PNTL reform process, implying that another security crisis erupting in the country cannot be ruled out.