SECURITY PERSONNEL TRAINED IN HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION.

On 6^th march 2018, RIC-NET and HURINET trained security personnel on rights and protection of human rights. The trained was held at Vanilla hotel Bundibugyo town. It was attended by  District security officers/commanders and CIMIC from the Police, UPDF, Prison service, UWA, the Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Resident State Attorney (RSA), District Chairperson (LCV), Chief administrative Officer(CAO), DCDO; the Division UPDF spokesperson, officers from the Police and prison Child protection Unit, internal Security officers(ISO/CMI), police OC stations from the sub counties of Bubukwanga, Ntotoro, Kirumya, Bukonzo;  and CSO working on human rights .

The training involved introduction human rights, human rights principles, human rights instruments. The laws in Uganda in relation to human rights, the roles of right holders and duty bearers in protection and promotion of human rights. We also looked at the Human right Based Approach as used by the duty bearers, the referral system in reporting and monitoring human rights abuses and violations, the Do no Harm principles and its implication in doing protection and promotion of human rights as well as role of security towards peace building and child protection.

UPDF spokesperson Kakurungu said, “the training has come at a time when duty bearers in this district were regarded as key violators of human rights basing on the fact that the district has gone through series of conflicts that up to now we have not realized total peace."
Some sections of the community blame the security for taking side in the matter. the spokesperson promised to mobilize the men in uniform at least to have a doze of the training especially those involved in operation to ensure the protect and promote rights of the citizens as per their mandate.

On the other hand, it was observed that, some duty bearers were not aware of their mandate as per law establish especially in the exercising their mandate in cases where the law is silent on certain issues. An example of the public order management actors was sighted where, the law takes of notifying police but it has been interpreted depending on the situation at hand, detention for more than 48 hours at police before produced in court, rights to bail and police demanding for transport before they arrest a suspect. In this case, it’s not police as an institution but individuals with specific interest in the matter.

At the end of the trained, members resolved that: community policing should be done regularly to ensure the citizens understand better the role of the security;
Each individual (right holder or duty bearer) must understand his/her limit, the interest of the individual should not override the standards set aside by law and other instruments; Duty bearers should always practice human rights based approach (HRBA) in their day to day activities; Joint monitoring of human rights along all sectors like health, education, transport, in local government and other non state actors should be done.
 Participants conducted a learning visit at Bundibugyo prison to gain knowledge on the human rights situation of the inmates.