Senior Federal Police officer appointed deputy head of EU mission in Iraq

type:
News
, Date:
07 November 2024

In November, Ralf Schröder, Senior Chief Superintendent in Germany’s Federal Police, assumed the post of deputy head of the European Union Advisory Mission in Iraq (EUAM Iraq). Before travelling to Iraq, Schröder was given an official send-off at the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community by State Secretary Hans-Georg Engelke.

Source: BMI

Since October 2017, following an invitation by the Iraqi authorities, EUAM Iraq has supported the country’s civilian security sector reform. A particular focus of the mission is assisting Iraqi efforts to fight terrorism, violent extremism and organised crime. The mission’s tasks also include supporting the fight against corruption and assisting with integrated border management and with the protection of cultural assets. EUAM Iraq pursues a strategic approach to advising officials of the National Security Advisory, the Ministry of Interior and other authorities responsible for civilian aspects of the security sector reform. The mission’s headquarters are in Baghdad, with a field office in Erbil.

The first heads of the EUAM Iraq were also German police officers: Dr Markus Ritter, followed in 2019 by Christoph Buik. Together with the current head of mission, Anders Wiberg of Sweden, Schröder will be responsible for carrying out the mission’s mandate and for the nearly 100 members of the EUAM Iraq team. In addition to Schröder, five other Germans have been seconded to the EUAM Iraq, all of them civilian experts from the Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF).

Schröder has been a police officer since 1995 and has served in the Federal Police counter-terrorism unit GSG 9 in various capacities since 1999, most recently as deputy commander of the unit specialised in combating terrorism as well as serious and organised crime. Over the course of his career, Schröder has gained experience in Afghanistan, Iraq and South Sudan and from numerous operations within Germany. He served as Police Commissioner in the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) from August 2022 to October 2024, where he was responsible for an international team of police officers who were helping the Somalia federal police and the police forces of Somalia’s federal member states to develop a federal system for the police.

For more information about Germany’s participation in international police missions, please see the Federal Police website at www.bundespolizei.de (in German only).