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Key Text The Legacy of Four Vetting Programs: An Empirical Review

Author: Caspar Fithen
Date: 2009
Size: 29 pages (167 KB)

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Summary

How can vetting help to improve institutions undergoing transition? This paper from the International Centre for Transitional Justice reviews evidence from four country case studies, highlighting the important distinctions between post-conflict and post-authoritarian transitions. It argues that while vetting cannot be divorced from its institutional context, proper planning and commitment to long-term reform can override political obstacles.

Vetting is a process for assessing an individual’s integrity in order to determine his or her suitability for public employment in the transition from conflict to peace or authoritarian rule to democratic rule. If conducted properly, efforts to reform institutions can be significantly reinforced. Successful vetting processes will leave positive legacies, characterised by a transfer of knowledge and capacities to appropriate government institutions and the formation of long-term integrity-enhancing mechanisms.

The legacy of vetting cannot be studied in isolation from institutional and contextual realities. Using the post-conflict experiences of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Liberia and the post-authoritarian transitions of Hungary and the Czech Republic, certain common findings, however, can be articulated:

The transition from authoritarian to democratic rule should be distinguished from that of a transition from conflict to peace—different contexts require different strategies.
Effective programme design, implementation and legacy management are factors that can override political obstacles.
Consultation and the sharing of data between international and national partners is key to a successful vetting programme.

Vetting processes are fraught with difficulties. While a post-authoritarian transition can lead to a major shake-up of the state, the socio-political trauma of armed conflict often result in complete, normative collapse of the state, as in Liberia. It is in these most challenging post-conflict circumstances that peace must be negotiated and established through the complete reconstruction of the state.

In the post-conflict contexts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Liberia, relatively rapid programmes of vetting have been employed on the personnel of the judiciary and the police. Yet, while Bosnia has, with significant support from the international community, managed to rebuild many of its core institutions, Liberia has suffered from inadequate planning and a lack of financial and technical assistance from international donors, resulting in persistently poor institutions.

Several recommendations for improving vetting can be drawn from these experiences. They aim to assist in building the institutions vital to functioning democratic states and include:

Domestic authorities should be encouraged to adopt aspects of the vetting process by amending existing legislation as part of a long-term recruitment strategy.
Supporting partners must commit to sufficient funding for the operational training and equipping of personnel and support a professional standards body to continually monitor progress afterwards.
Planning for the vetting process should account for the structure of the vetting procedure and should involve a thorough consultative process including all relevant national and international partners.
Vetting programmes must leave a legacy of ongoing integrity enhancement if they are to be considered a success—good quality data management is crucial for this objective.
To improve public confidence, a public opinion survey should be held five years after the termination of the vetting programme to determine how much the public believes the institutions to have improved.
Police vetting programmes must contain a credible and independent process of appeal, as well as incorporate proper mechanisms for the protection of informers to encourage broad public participation.

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Source: Fithen C., 2009, 'The Legacy of Four Vetting Programs: An Empirical Review', International Center for Transitional Justice, New York
Organisation: International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), http://www.ictj.org