In 2006, the High Commissioner published the ‘Recommendations on Policing in Multi-Ethnic Societies’. The subject was not by any means new at the time. Reflections on the need to draw up rules, or at least general principles, on policing in societies where ethnically related tensions existed had been debated since at least the 1960s; for example following racial tensions and disturbances in the United States of America at that time, and later, in Europe, after a series of racially based riots surfaced in the United Kingdom at the beginning of the 1980s and later, in other countries. We have seen many recent examples too. It would lead too far to go into a description of the specific Recommendations. Suffice it to say at this stage that they cover key topics such as recruitment and representation, training and professional support, engagement with ethnic communities, operational practices and the prevention and management of conflict. However, let me elaborate on some of the reasons why the High Commissioner thought the Recommendations pertinent.