Session 2: Professionalizing Security Forces

The second session of the day was on Institutional Reform: Transforming the Security Forces in Times of Transition. The session began with the speaker Juan Faroppa, consultant of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

He gave an introduction to the concept of citizen security in general, and within the norms of the inter-American system of human rights. Although governments in the Latin America and Caribbean region have used the security system for purposes such as protecting the state, he pointed out that the person, or the citizen, is in fact at the center of security functions.

The role of security forces, such as the police force, is to guarantee the rights of the population. Thus, security institutions should function on three simultaneous levels: preventive, normative, and operational.

He remarked that it is fundamental that the government is prepared to have operational and technical control of the security sector. At the same time, security forces must be professional, and not unduly influenced by the changing political orientations of successive administrations.


He then suggested that the main areas of action to ensure that professional security forces are committed to citizen security are: respect for democratic governance; commitment to human rights and ethics; appropriate allocation of resources; strict respect of diversity; accountability; and openness to citizen participation.

View Juan Faroppa 's presentation

Natalia Federman, national director of human rights in the Ministry of Security of Argentina, spoke about the experience in her country. She stressed the need to distinguish policies requiring consensus among the security forces, and other policies (like depuration) where full consensus may not be possible. However, vetting a police force should not be an indiscriminate process, because that would not necessarily lead to a better, more effective, rights-respecting system.

In Argentina, the government implemented several measures to ensure a useful reform process of the police force. For example, they rewarded officers known for their good work and their proper roles in the forces. Also, for the anniversary of the military dictatorship this year, the government instituted memorials on former clandestine prison sites, (Still locations of police centers today.)

Argentina also has implemented other transitional justice mechanisms for a holistic approach to addressing the past, such as specialized groups to investigate cases of the disappeared.

Benjamin Cuellar, director of the Institute of Human Rights at the Central American University of Jose Simeon Cañas in El Salvador, spoke about the experience there.

He stressed that the process of reform must start at the top—ensuring that no one can be above the law, especially when dealing with violations of human rights. It is therefore important to remove elements of impunity such as amnesties and to comply with international instruments, so these norms can then be implemented at the national level.

He cautioned that, when thinking about the security forces, it is important to remember de facto powers behind criminality: economic powers, some political actors, and organized crime. Accountability must start to be effective there.

The discussion focused on the practicality behind changing the culture of security forces. Participants wondered if there are any good examples of a police force that has been reformed to be a model of efficiency, professionalism and citizenship, and if it had an effect on the paradigm of human rights in the country.