Arua City | February 2023: The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Uganda in collaboration with the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC), organized a human rights training for senior police officers in the West Nile sub-region.
The three-day training aimed at enhancing knowledge for commanding officers on key human rights principles and standards to enable them to incorporate human rights in law enforcement.
The regional police commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Serunjogi Eddie, cautioned commanding officers over any action or omission that may result in human rights violations in their area of command. He encouraged the police officer to only use their command responsibility to champion the promotion and protection of human rights for all.
“With years of experience, it is vital to note that one of the causes of insecurity is the violation of human rights. I strongly urge officers to use their command responsibility to champion the protection of rights.” ACP Serunjogi advised.
He further committed to holding commanders accountable for their actions and omissions that will result in violations of human rights by junior officers under their command.
At the end of the training, participants developed strategies to champion human rights protection and promotion which included constant supervision, holding officers involved in human rights violations accountable for their actions or omissions, strengthening joint community policing with UHRC, providing human rights briefings to officers especially on international principles on the use of force and firearms, arrest and detention and handling of special groups like children, women, elderly and people with disabilities.
According to the police Annual Crime Report 2021, the police under the directorate of human rights and legal services, intensified capacity building for police officers in collaboration with UHRC, OHCHR and CSOs including Human Rights Centre - Uganda.
The training was delivered in partnership with UN Women and Justice for Children sector. It targeted 23 officers (21 males and 4 females) comprising of mainly regional and district police commanders, city police commanders, regional CIDs and the regional legal and human rights officer.