UNODC organized a sub-regional train-the-trainers (ToT) on human rights and the criminal justice responses to terrorism in Dakar on 26 February-2 March 2018. In close collaboration with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the training workshop gathered 24 participants: magistrates (judges and prosecutors), judicial police officers (police and gendarmes) as well as members of the National Human Rights Commissions from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.
The Dakar workshop is the first in a series of three ToT courses on human rights and the criminal justice responses to terrorism, which will bring together the same participants. The objective of the project is to build the capacity of a team of criminal justice actors, as well as members of the National Human Rights Commissions of the six countries concerned by the project, to replicate similar workshops at the national or regional level.
At the end of the five-day training, participants gained a better understanding of the human rights dimension of the criminal justice responses to terrorism, in particular issues such as the limitation and derogation of fundamental rights, absolute prohibition of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, respect for human rights during police custody and pre-trial detention and interrogation. Beyond these themes, the training program allowed participants to become familiar with practice-oriented adult learning methodology.
The other two workshops that will be organized as part of a sub-regional ToT course on human rights and criminal justice responses to terrorism, and will take place in July and September of this year.
The training program is being implemented as part of the Project on Strengthening National Capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa for Human Rights Compliance in Criminal Justice Measures against Terrorism and Violent Extremism, funded by Canada and UNODC's Sahel Programme.