On Friday 20 May, the Convention against Torture Initiative (CTI) held a side event at the margins of the 31st session of the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) titled ‘Achieving human rights-based Police Reform’ to present and launch its Practical Resource Toolkit for Professional, Human Rights-compliant Policing developed in partnership with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Division for Treaty Affairs. During the event – which was sponsored by the CTI Core States of Denmark, Fiji and Morocco – saw the presentation of the first three resource notes of the Toolkit on Stop and Search, Arrest, and Safeguards in Police Custody respectively.

Despite the wide array of guidance and tools available on policing and human rights, torture prevention, and use of force practices, there is still a need to improve awareness, accessibility, and training on these standards among policy-makers and law-enforcement officials. The CTI Police Resource Toolkit presented seeks to provide policymakers and practitioners with a practical orientation on different aspects of policing, including promising State practices, tools, and examples, to improve performance, fairness, and transparency in policing and reduce the risks and incentives to use torture and abuse. The Toolkit is aimed toward police officers and other law enforcement officials, lawmakers, policy-makers, and government officials in charge of developing and reforming national laws, policies, programs, and practices to professionalize police services and strengthen human rights-compliant policing.

In his opening remarks, H.E. Azzedine Farhane, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to Austria, underlined the need for practical guidance for police and other law enforcement officers on relevant human rights standards in key areas of their daily work. He explained that the elaboration of the CTI Police Resource Toolkit is based on requests received by CTI from law enforcement officials, including during the CTI Global Seminar held in Copenhagen in 2019.

‘There is a need to bridge the gap between what is provided for in relevant laws and regulations and their actual implementation in practice. I am confident that the resource notes will assist States in reviewing laws, regulations, guidelines and practices to give effect to States’ obligations under the UN Convention against Torture, and they can further play an undoubtedly key role in supporting domestic police reform efforts.’

H.E. Azzedine Farhane, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco to Austria and Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Vienna

The event was moderated by Mr. John Brandolino, Director of the UNODC Division for Treaty Affairs, and included two law enforcement expert speakers, as well as the CTI senior adviser (ad interim), Stephanie Selg, who discussed the objectives of the CTI Police Resource Toolkit as well as its added value for police training and capacity building efforts.

Dr. Melissa Jardine, former Australian police officer and international policing consultant with the UNODC Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Section, welcomed the CTI Police Resource Toolkit as highly relevant for further capacity building and commended CTI and UNODC for the approach of using promising practices on how things can be done instead of simply pointing out what should be done. This approach will make the Toolkit more practical and accessible for officers on the ground. She also explained some of the drivers of police behavior and ways to achieve human rights adherence within police forces.

Mr. Ahmed Ait Taleb, Contrôleur Général of the General Directorate of National Security of the Kingdom of Morocco highlighted its practical approach. He explained that the General Directorate of National Security, instead of continuing with a stand-alone module on human rights for Police officers, has integrated human rights standards in the operational training modules for Police and has observed an increased adherence to human rights standards since then. As such, Mr. Ait Taleb noted that the CTI resource notes can serve as an additional source on the way to operationalization and integration of human rights in the training of police in Morocco.

‘It is our sincere hope that CTI’s Police Resource Toolkit will inform police reforms, help improve performance and efficiency, fairness and transparency in policing and reduce the risks and incentives to use torture or other ill-treatment.’

Closing statement of H.E. René Rosager Dinesen, Ambassador of Denmark to Austria and Permanent Representative of Denmark to OSCE and the International Organisations in Vienna

Background

20+ resource notes of the CTI Police Resource Toolkit will be released on an ongoing basis until 2024. Each Resource Note includes background information on the respective policing aspect, recommended practices, and country examples from across the world, as well as key standards, guidelines, and practical tools. Additional key resources for each aspect of policing will be added to an up-to-date resource page on a continuous basis. A dedicated subpage for the Police Resource Toolkit is available and will be updated on a regular basis.

The three resource notes currently available are:

• Stop and search: This note provides a background primer on the concept of stop and search, safeguards and recommendations to improve and protect against arbitrary and unlawful practices, and country examples for interested states to incorporate domestically.
• Arrest: This note outlines the procedure for arrest that adheres to a deprivation of liberty consistent with the rule of law. The note lists safeguards aimed to improve the protection of human rights during arrest procedures—especially for persons in vulnerable situations, to better regulate these practices, and to protect against unlawful deprivation of liberty or torture and other ill-treatment. Further, the note provides resources and practices states have used to reform their practices in line with international standards.
• Safeguards in Police Custody: this note details the safeguards and rights associated with detention during the initial period of time spent in police custody following arrest. The objective of this document is to practically eliminate an environment that allows for torture and ill-treatment. As with the previous research notes, this guide also produces a range of successful practices and resources for states to draw upon for implementation.