Supporting Governance-Driven Approaches to Building Integrity in the Security Sector

Codes of conduct offer important tools to guide the behavior of staff by setting expectations and requirements of professional conduct. They can cover areas such as conflicts of interest, declaration of offers/gifts, disclosure of assets, handling confidential information, abuse of office, etc. The codes should be easily accessible for all security personnel, firmly rooted in ethics and values, and appealing to read. They should also foresee mechanisms of implementation, sanctions for non-compliance and oversight arrangements.

It is important that security sector personnel are familiar with relevant legal norms and operational guidelines and understand the consequences for breaking the rules. The provision of training and training-of-trainers programmes, as well as the development of promotional materials, can support raising the level of awareness of the staff. Awareness raising on integrity can be also integrated in the curricula of military, police and judicial academies, as well as online training modules. It is equally important to promote understanding of the opportunities and challenges in building integrity within the security sector among the leadership of the security sector institutions and policy makers.