A New Frame? Transforming Policing through Guarantees of Non-Repetition

Using qualitative legal scholarship, combined with literature analysis from post-conflict peacebuilding and police studies, this article provides a normative and theoretical lens through which police and other actors can view and carry out reform efforts. It explores whether and how the concept of guarantees of non-repetition could contribute to or reframe discussions in order to prevent future violence and facilitate lasting institutional changes. The article examines the development of a broader approach to security sector reform and explores guarantees of non-repetition and the conceptual confusion it has encountered. It teases out the main aspects of guarantees of non-repetition, including its human rights elements, such as due diligence obligations. Finally, it addresses how guarantees of non-repetition provide a normative institutional policy framework that offers the possibility to shift the rhetoric to focus on State obligations that are context-driven. As a result, guarantees of non-repetition could prove useful when addressing police reform.