Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary A. DiCarlo
Remarks to the Fifth United Nations Chiefs of Police Summit (UNCOPS 2026)
Session 3: Enhancing International Cooperation to Address Transnational Challenges
New York, 8 July 2026
Excellencies, distinguished Chiefs of Police, ladies and gentlemen,
Let me begin by expressing my deep appreciation to the women and men of United Nations Police, who work under demanding circumstances to support peace, security and the rule of law around the world.
Their contribution is crucial. For many decades, they have helped strengthen national law enforcement institutions, support rule of law reforms, protect vulnerable populations, and build trust between communities and the state.
This has contributed to ensuring institutional resilience and preventing violence from escalating.
In environments as complex as Haiti, Libya and Somalia, UN Police are supporting the work of our political missions by helping advance respect for human rights in national justice, police and corrections systems and by advising governments on transitional justice and reconciliation issues.
Today, UN Police – like our political missions – are operating in an increasingly complex and volatile security environment.
The deteriorating global peace and security environment has affected all facets of our work. Violence is on the upsurge. Conflicts are becoming more fragmented and regionalized – making peacemaking an increasingly challenging task.
Peace agreements are elusive; in most cases, conflict parties can only agree on partial solutions such as ceasefires.
Across many regions, conflict is also becoming deeply intertwined with transnational crime and illicit economies.
Criminal networks fuel insecurity, finance armed groups, erode trust in state institutions, and undermine political processes.
Drug trafficking provides resources to those who profit from conflict. Environmental crime and the illegal exploitation of natural resources deprive States of much needed revenue and become embedded in the political economy of conflict.
In Haiti, the illicit flow of arms and ammunition has continued to fuel gang expansion and criminal activities, contributing to further instability and violence, including against civilians.
Supporting the strengthening of the implementation of the arms embargo, the combating of trafficking and the tightening of weapons controls must remain a top priority.
Across the Sahel, terrorism, organized crime and local conflicts are increasingly intertwined. Armed groups exploit porous borders, weak institutions and illicit trafficking in weapons, drugs, natural resources and people to finance violence, creating cross-border threats that no State can address alone.
In South-East Asia, transnational organized crime is rapidly evolving through the use of digital technologies.
Criminal networks are leveraging cyberspace to expand fraud, money laundering and trafficking operations across borders, demonstrating how technology is accelerating the scale, reach and sophistication of organized crime.
While these contexts differ, they share a fundamental reality: transnational threats are adaptive, interconnected, and faster than our traditional response mechanisms.
To counter these trends, we must engage earlier. Too often, responses are triggered only once criminal economies are entrenched, institutions have been hollowed out, and violence has already escalated.
We must shift this logic. Prevention must drive our collective response.
Effective policing can be an important component of prevention.
By helping Member States build responsive, representative and accountable police services that protect communities, uphold the rule of law and earn public trust, policing addresses the conditions that fuel instability and violence.
It is not only about disrupting criminal networks; it is about creating the conditions in which political dialogue can succeed and sustainable peace can take root.
To make the role of policing in conflict-affected countries reach its full potential, I see three priorities.
First, we need to invest in peacemaking.
Political solutions remain essential to resolve the underlying drivers of conflict. We know that stop-gap measures, as important as they may be, are often not sustainable.
To make peace take root, there is no alternative to bringing the parties to the negotiating table to make compromises and chart a common path.
When peacemaking succeeds, political transitions are more likely to be effective, inclusive and nationally owned, capable of delivering legitimate institutions.
Second, we must draw on the full range of capacities already available in the UN system, and beyond.
Criminal networks thrive in the gaps between institutions, mandates and borders.
Closing those gaps will require that we work in innovative ways both within the UN System and with our partners – in order to ensure better analysis of criminal economies, trafficking routes, illicit financial flows, corruption risks, and the links between organized crime and armed actors.
To that end, we have taken an array of actions – from joint programming to enhanced coordination – to improve our ability to deliver as one.
In Afghanistan, for example, our special political mission, UNAMA, has worked closely with the UN Office of Drugs and Crime on countering illicit narcotics flows.
Through its good offices, UNAMA helps create the political space for dialogue and cooperation, complementing UNODC's technical expertise.
In Haiti, where United Nations Police have long played an important role in supporting national law enforcement institutions, our mission, BINUH, now provides technical assistance and advisory support to national authorities, including on corrections and detention.
The Mission also plays a coordination role among national counterparts and international partners — including the Gang Suppression Force, the UN Support Office, bilateral donors, and regional organizations to ensure coherence across the security, political and stabilization efforts.
And at the global level, we are working together to provide better policy guidance to the field.
The UN Global Task Force on Corruption is a case in point: through regular engagements across its various partners, it recently produced a Guide on addressing corruption in conflict-affected settings, reinforcing a shared understanding of corruption as a political and security issue central to sustaining peace.
Third, we must remain firmly grounded in United Nations principles and values.
Our efforts to counter transnational organized crime must never undermine the values we seek to defend. International policing cooperation must be grounded in respect for sovereignty, national ownership and the consent of the host State.
It must also be grounded in human rights. Communities will not engage with institutions they fear. Victims of trafficking will not seek protection from services they do not trust.
Colleagues,
These actionable priorities reflect our ambition: to build a United Nations that is more integrated, more agile and better equipped to address today's interconnected challenges.
Strengthening cooperation across the peace and security, development and human rights pillars—and making prevention our guiding principle—is essential if the Organization is to remain fit for purpose.
Cooperation is not optional. It is the only way to meet threats that are, by definition, transnational.
Thank you.
