NHRC mainstreams human rights into law enforcement

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3 years ago

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), has commenced moves to mainstream human rights into law enforcement in the country.

Speaking on Thursday in Abuja, at a two-day validation meeting for a training manual on mainstreaming of human rights into law enforcement in Nigeria, the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Tony Ojukwu (SAN), said the commission decided to develop a standard training manual to provide uniform training to law enforcement agents on human rights approach to law enforcement and policing.

According to the NHRC boss, “The training manual, which was developed with the support of MacArthur foundation is expected to enhance the capacity of law enforcement agents on human rights principles, accountability and respect to the rule of law.”

Ojukwu said, to develop an internationally acceptable training manual, the commission engaged an expert with vast experience in developing training manuals for the training of law enforcement agents across the country and added that the training manual will strengthen police reform in Nigeria.

He said the manual is divided into seven modules namely, police ethics and code of conduct, policing and human rights, stop and search, arrest, detention, use of force, and public order policing.

The NHRC boss said the purpose of the validation meeting is to ensure that the manual is vetted and made fit for its purpose and that, the course content is engaging and provide trainees with relevant knowledge and expertise to mainstream human rights into law enforcement.

He added that the meeting will lead to an attitudinal change in the course of the work of law enforcement agents, adding that the validation process would ensure that the training manual is of appropriate professional standards that can compete with the internationally certified training manuals.

“Once validated, the manual will be deployed to train police personnel in nine states across six geo-political zones, and subsequently become a resource for other training activities of law enforcement officers, ” he said.

Ojukwu said the training of police officers using the manual, was made possible by the long-standing partnership between the Nigeria Police Force and the Commission, premised on the willingness of the police force to avail its personnel to be trained on the human rights approach to policing and law enforcement.

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