Analysis: How Effective is AFRIPOL in Combating Trans-border Crime in Africa?

African Union Mechanism for Police Cooperation also known as AFRIPOL was established under the aegis of the African Union as an independent mechanism for police cooperation for Member States of the African Union.

African Chiefs of Police of Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'ivoire, DR Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Saharawi Republic, Somalia, Seychelles, Sierra-Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, meeting in Algiers, Algeria, on 10-11 February 2014 declared the establishment of African Union Mechanism for Police Cooperation - AFRIPOL.

AFRIPOL is composed of Police institutions of Member States of the African. The Headquarters of AFRIPOL is in Algiers, Peoples' Democratic Republic of Algeria.

The structure of AFRIPOL consists of the General Assembly as the supreme technical and deliberative organ; the Steering Committee as the executive body responsible for implementing the decisions of the General Assembly; the Secretariat; and AFRIPOL National Liaison Offices in African Union Member States.

Its main objective is to establish a framework for police cooperation at the strategic, operational and tactical levels between Member States police institutions.

AFRIPOL functions on the following principles:

1. Respect for democratic rule, human rights, the rule of law and good governance in accordance with the Constitutive Act, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other relevant instruments.

2. Respect of the Police Ethics, the principles of neutrality, sovereignty, integrity and the presumption of innocence.

3. Acknowledging the progress achieved thus far by African sub-regional police cooperation organizations, which needs to be consolidated in an overall strategic African framework of prevention and fight against all forms of crime;

4. Aware of the common challenges faced by African countries in terms of terrorism and organized transnational crime, in particular illicit traffics in drugs, light arms, munitions, migrants, and traffic in persons, maritime piracy, cyber-crime, counterfeit medicines, environmental crimes, serious disturbances of public order, and social peace.

5. Concerned by the increasing extent of these forms of crime in several African sub-regions, the emergence and unbridled spread of criminal phenomena, in particular those relating to information and communication technologies, capital transfers, and various illicit traffics in natural resources and smuggling.

6. Deeply concerned by the alliance of criminal organizations, the complexity of their actions and methods of operation, which have gradually broadened their scope of activity at continental and international levels and taken advantage of difficult socioeconomic conditions of some populations, the vulnerability of borders, globalization, and easy access to technologies.

7. Highlighting the need to promote African police coordination at strategic, operational, and tactical levels through the assessment of threats, analysis of criminal intelligence, planning, and implementation of actions.

8. Convinced that an effective response to the various forms of crime on the African Continent requires the harmonization of police methods, the exchange and extension of best practices in terms of training, prevention, investigative techniques, and expertise, as well as the strengthening of African police capabilities.

Since the establishment of AFRIPOL on February 11th, 2014 enough has not been heard about AFRIPOL effectiveness in combating trans-border crime in Africa!