A three-day capacity-building training for senior police officers from across South Sudan commenced on Tuesday in Juba on monitoring and reporting grave violations against children.
The training is organized by the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Commission (DDRC) with support from the Child Protection Unit of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
Police commissioners and heads of protection units drawn from across the country will receive training on how to raise awareness on child rights, strengthen the understanding of the Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM), and build capacity among senior police officers. The senior personnel are expected to pass the knowledge they acquire to junior colleagues, with the ultimate goal of preventing the six grave violations against children.
Addressing journalists during the opening session, Maj. Gen. James Mande Enoch, the South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS) spokesperson, said the training will ensure the officers work effectively.
“Today is a good day for the SSNPS because there is a very important and strategic workshop which has been organized by DDR and the UNMISS to train senior police officers in issues of children’s rights and elections, among others,” he said. “The participants include 12 state police commissioners and special protection units from 8 states. These are senior officers who are handling security in their respective areas of jurisdiction.”
“This workshop was organized to capacitate the officers in monitoring and reporting issues of children’s rights,” Gen. Mande added.
He emphasized that police officers are expected to observe and protect the rights of children and other vulnerable groups, like women.
The training aims to identify specific activities outlined in the Comprehensive Action Plan that the police can implement and to enhance collaboration between UNMISS and the South Sudanese police in protecting children and ending grave violations.
For his part, Oluku Andrew Holt, National Coordinator for Release and Reintegration of Children Associated with Armed Forces and Groups at the South Sudan Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration Commission (DDRC), said training police officers on the children’s rights enables them to know their role in the police action plan about the rights of children.
“You are here as police because you have a key role to play, and later in our presentation about the action plan regarding children’s security and conflict, we look at it because of the objective of this work zone, which will help you to identify your role as police,” he said.