HUMAN RIGHTS POLICING: PRAWA, Swiss Embassay in Nigeria Engages NPF and Dawaki Community

Oru Leonard

To promote human rights policing and build trust between the Police and the Public, Prisoners Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA), organized a community dialogue in a town hall meeting that held on March 26th in Dawaki community. The community dialogue is part of the week-long human rights training programme for the Nigeria Police.

The first stage of this engagement was community-based dialogue which provided a platform for honest feedback, information sharing and trust building. The aim of the town hall meeting was to foster synergy and cooperation between the community and the police, towards ensuring adherence to human rights principles in police operations, and reducing crime in the area.

The outcome of the meeting was phenomenal as the residents of the village spoke their minds which touched on issues relating to infringement of their rights by police officers. The DPO in charge, who attended the meeting with some of his officers, addressed issues that were raised and promised to look into complaints tabled by community members. He urged his men to carry out their responsibilities with professionalism and promised that his office is open to members of the public.

35 police officers were trained on human rights and trust building, while select members of the criminal justice underwent restorative justice training, in a 2 days training that held at the FCT Command Headquarters, Garki. In continuation of the training, 35 youths across the 7 area councils in Abuja were trained on alternative to violence, to foster peace and security in the community.

PRAWA also met with the Inspector General of Police on Monday 28th of March with a delegation from the Embassy of Switzerland, to discuss outcomes and achievements of the NPF Human Rights Training Project, which PRAWA has been implementing with the support of the Swiss since 2012.