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

51activities, for instance in destruction of narcotics cultivation and freeing thenatural resources from the control of mafia gangs. Joint patrolling with theUN Police in the areas dominated by these gangs can also prove to beeffective in instilling some sense of security in the public in such areas.6. Police-military coordination in prosecution of war criminalsPursuit of war criminals is an important task for the civilian Police. Insome cases, Crime Tribunals are established by the internationalcommunity in the conflict-torn countries to address crimes committed inthe past, especially during the conflict. International Crime Tribunal forformer Yugoslavia (ICTY) and International Crime Tribunal for Rwanda(ICTR) are two such examples of crime tribunal set up by the internationalcommunity. Such tribunals play an important role in restoring rule of lawin the conflict-torn societies as in the absence of a sound judicial system inthe country they not only help in bringing justice and hope to the victimsby initiating legal action against the perpetrators of the crimes, but alsohelp in a big way in restoring the faith of the people in the internationaljudiciary system. Bringing such criminals to justice in post-conflict periodis therefore an important task in establishing rule of law in the conflictaffected area.UNPOL is normally assigned with the task of investigating such crimes;however one daunting task the Police face during the process is affectingarrest of such war criminals. At times these criminals have support of thelocal community because of which the Police either do not get adequateintelligence about them or faces resistance while arresting them. Thesituation becomes more complicated in case these criminals are still inpossession of arms and support groups behind them. Under these