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By Elias Meseret
Monday, September 21, 2009
Ethiopian Police brutal beating of a boy 2005
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With next year's Ethiopia's general election looming, the country's law enforcement officials and police have attended four days of training on human rights and basic principles of the law.
The training, given within the framework of the Democratic Institutions Programme (DIP), was held in Yoly and Semien Hotels by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
"The training was aimed at enhancing the capacity of professionals from police and prison institutions and to conduct human rights training for officers on service as well as on pre-service trainees," Jakob Schneider, Regional Representative of OHCHR noted.
Capital learnt that the training also facilitated an upcoming series of regional training workshops for officials.
Danayt Belay, Public Relations Officer of EHRC, said 95 federal and Addis Ababa city police officials have taken part in the trainings that were given by police college lecturers.
According to EHRC, training sessions will be held in Nekemt, Nazareth, Gambella, Mekele, Awassa, Dire Dawa and Bahir Dar. They will target mid-level officials. Additionally, similar trainings will be held in Benishangul-Gumuz, Afar, Somali and Addis Ababa in the next few weeks.
In March 2009, a National Consultative Workshop on Human Rights and Law Enforcement held at the UNECA resulted in the adoption of several recommendations concerning the integration of human rights into the law enforcement activities of police and prison officials, including systematic training.
Prior to these sessions, a manual was developed and reviewed by different experts in the field of human rights and law enforcement in consultation with key stakeholders.
In 2007, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and the UN Resident Coordinator signed a five year multi-donor grant to fund DIP. It aims to strengthen democratic institutions in Ethiopia.