South-East Asian police receive human rights training

A workshop on human rights training for police trainers and other enforcement personnel from South-East Asia will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 15 to 19 June 2009. The event, which is jointly conducted by the Government of Malaysia and the Commonwealth Secretariat, will be held at the Royal Malaysian Police College. The workshop is aimed at promoting and protecting human rights by increasing the awareness of human rights issues in policing.

This training programme for police personnel from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is targeted at integrating human rights into training curricula by drawing on the experience from around the Commonwealth.

It is hoped that human rights standards, principles and practices will become an intrinsic part of policy, management and operations of the police service. In the daily work of the police, they often have to handle crowd management, arrest and detention, search and seizure, investigations, the use of force, and deal with crime suspects and victims. Their knowledge of international human rights standards and obligations are critical in the efficient and effective execution of their duties to maintain law and order.

The human rights training programme would enable police officials to develop a better understanding of accountable and effective policing through the study of universally accepted human rights standards and practices, said Dr Purna Sen, Head of Human Rights at the Commonwealth Secretariat.

“We are delighted to commence our first human rights initiative in Malaysia, especially in such an important area of work. The police service is a point of contact for many among the general population, and its adherence to human rights standards is a key part of the state's commitment to international conventions,” commented Dr Sen.

“We are also pleased to have members of the police from a number of ASEAN countries joining us for the training. We look forward to constructive dialogue with them on human rights-based policing. We anticipate that they will find much in the workshop that they will be able to take back into their every day police training programmes.”

Secretariat Links:

• Human Rights