Peru: Course on human rights and humanitarian principles for police instructors

On 6 May the ICRC and the Peruvian National Police (PNP), in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior, launched the second course on human rights and humanitarian principles for police instructors.

Nineteen police officers ranging in rank from captains to commanders are taking part in this intensive training course on the legal bases and the techniques that allow the police to discharge their mandate as agents responsible for enforcing the law while respecting human rights law and humanitarian principles. The course relies on the active participation of Latin-American instructors forming the group of international police experts who have given similar courses in neighbouring countries. The future national instructors hope to join this international group in due course and to contribute to the training of further instructors.

The current course is being held under a cooperation agreement concluded in July 2001 between the ICRC and the PNP with the principal aim of helping the PNP to set up a team of instructors qualified to provide this type of training within the Peruvian police system. This firm intention on the part of the PNP is backed up by the efforts being made by the Ministry of the Interior, in particular the Vice-Minister and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry's Human Rights Commission, to strengthen the dialogue between the PNP and the ICRC.

The five-week course will end on 8 June next. The PNP, the Ministry of the Interior and the ICRC hope to organize three more courses this year.