Participation of members of Ministry of Interior in peacekeeping missions

Short overview of peacekeeping missions in which members of the Ministry of Interior have been participating.

UNMIT (East Timor) was established by the UN Security Council resolution no. 1704 from the 25th of August 2006 with the following mandate: support the Government of East Timor and relevant institutions in consolidating stability, strengthening the culture of democratic governance and political dialogue, and strengthening of national reconciliation and social cohesion.
About 1000 police officers from 42 countries participate in UNMIT mission.
Croatian police officers involved in the UNMIT mission since 2005, where in accordance with the mandate of the mission, police officers executed police powers, but also planed, organized and controlled the organization and training of local police forces. According to the Decision of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, up to five (5) police officers can be in one rotation, as is the number of policemen currently deployed in East Timor. 12 police officers of the Ministry of Interior so far participated in the mission.

UNFICIYP (Cyprus) – Ministry of Interior participates in the mission since April 2005, when we sent two police officers to Cyprus. The mission is of observation character so the Croatian police officers do not carry out the executive police powers. According to the Decision of the Government, four (4) police officers have been currently deployed in the mission. Total of 14 police officers participated in the mission so far.

UNMIK (Kosovo) – Since May 2005 Ministry of Interior have been participating with two police officers in Kosovo, and a total of 34 police officers, who carried out executive police powers and supervision and training of local police forces in the mission, were sent to the mission. Mission ceased with operational activities at the beginning of 2009 and since then the participation of Croatian police officers also ceased.

EULEX (Kosovo) – From the very beginning of the mission to establish the rule of law in Kosovo under the European Union (EULEX Kosovo) since the end of 2008, Croatia has been one of contributors and so far in the mission have been sent, along with three police officers who have been currently deployed in the mission, a total of 4 police officers.

UNMISET (Haiti) – Ministry of Interior has been participating in the mission since December 2007 in accordance with the Decision of the Government with the two police officers who in accordance with the mission mandate carried out the executive police powers, and have been working on training of local police forces. One police officer has already completed one-year mandate in the mission in December 2008.

NATO ISAF – police involvement in Afghanistan began in December 2004 when we sent two police advisers to NATO / ISAF peacekeeping mission. In the mission, Croatian police advisers have been working on developing and training the Afghan national police. In total 8 police officers were sent to the mission.

EUPOL (Afghanistan, EU Police Mission in Afghanistan) – by the Decision of the General Secretariat of the EU Council of unifying all the police systems, which functioned independently in different provinces in Afghanistan, on the 30th of May 2007, a  decision was made on so called Joint action on the establishment of EUPOL-Afghanistan, a peacekeeping mission established and guided by the EU, and based on which in October the same year, at the invitation of the EU, the Agreement between Croatia and the EU was signed on the participation of Croatian police officers in the mission.

Two police officers transferred to the newly established peacekeeping mission from NATO-ISAF mission on the 10th of July 2007. With the police officer who has been currently deployed in the mission, a total of 5 police officers participated in the mission so far.

OSCE Mission – Since 2000, at the invitation of the European Organization for Security and Cooperation under the direction of the organization, 6 police officers have been sent so far to the missions in Kosovo and Georgia.

JIPTC (Jordan International Police Training Centre) – A total of 6 Croatian police instructors took part in the work of the Jordanian International Police Training Centre where they trained Iraqi policemen.

Training of police officers who are sent to peacekeeping missions

Since 2006, Ministry of Interior has implemented an international course for police officers who are sent to peacekeeping missions – UNPOC (United Nations Police Officers Course).
So far, four courses have been conducted “UNPOC 2006”, “UNPOC 2007”, “UNPOC 2008” and “UNPOC 2009”. In February 2008, Ministry of Interior received a certificate of UNPOC compliance with UN standards of training for peacekeeping missions. The Republic of Croatia , except Australia and Russia, is the only country that currently has coordinated the implementation of training courses for the peacekeeping missions with the UN standards and with the implementation of this course, the Republic of Croatia has profiled as an active partner in global peace efforts of the international community. Since May this year, UN Department for Peacekeeping Operations began implementing the new common standards and training materials for police officers and “UNPOC Croatia 2009” was the first UNPOC course which has been held entirely according to these principles and standards.
So far, through 4 international courses, 86 police officers from Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Uganda, Israel, Malawi, Yemen, Lithuania, Slovenia and Iraq have been trained.
In organization and implementation of the course, the Ministry of Interior had the support of international police experts from the UK, Germany, Slovenia, Sweden, Belgium, and the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integrations, as well as from representatives of the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) and representatives of the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees).