A four-day training workshop on “Human Rights and Law Enforcement” ended on Friday, March 3, 2017 in Vanimo, West Sepik Province.
This follows the launch of the training program last week by Chief Training Instructor Edwin Maritua at Bomana Police Training College and will be rolled out around the country
Twenty-two police officers, including two female officers operating in Vanimo, West Sepik Province, were the first in 2017 to complete the four-day training.
The training modules are designed to strengthen understanding within the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) on the obligation to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights while conducting their duties.
The training was held on February 28 to March 3, 2017 and was facilitated by the Bomana Police Training College in partnership with the United Nations (UN) Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), with support from the Ombudsman Commission.
UN Human Rights Adviser, Kedar Poudyal, commended the 22 police officers for bringing a lot of experiences to the table on practical issues from the field to try to apply human rights and encouraged the participants to take this knowledge further by sharing with colleagues.
Maritua said that this was one of the first human rights training for Police ever conducted in Vanimo.
Police officers in other provinces in the country will also undergo the same training package, as it is rolled-out across the country this year.
The training modules were jointly developed by the Bomana Police Training College and OHCHR in 2016, with funding from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, as part of a project to strengthen rule of law and respect for human rights in PNG.