restoring law & order and crime prevention - Peace Operations ...

34• Accompanying Cypriot police patrol deployed to checkvehicles on roads for various traffic and other offences;• Manning UN police posts in certain sensitive areas wheretension existed;• Investigating incidents where Greek or Turkish Cypriots wereinvolved with the opposite community;• Special investigations as necessary.Besides these assigned duties the CIVPOL played an active part inhumanitarian work with other UN agencies, like the UN Highcommissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Committee ofthe Red Cross (ICRC). CIVPOL officers also provided escorts, visitedprisons and refugee camps, and set up a special UNFICYP missingperson’s bureau.However, the CIVPOL component was not given full law enforcementpowers and also it was not armed. The CIVPOL activities were carried outunder the overall leadership of the UNFICYP Military force Commander.The United Nations involvement in Namibia brought a new era of civilianpolice operations in the sense that for the first time CIVPOL officers weredeployed in the UN peacekeeping mission independent of military.UNTAG (United Nations Transition Assistance Group) came intoexistence in 1989 as a transitional body to facilitate the peace process aftercessation of hostilities between South African forces and the South WestAfrican People’s Organisation (SWAPO). An important part of the peaceprocess was the monitoring of the South African controlled South WestAfrican Police Force (SWAPOL), the principle instrument of political and