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Somalia: nearly 600 police recruits graduate from UNDP-backed programme

Somalia: nearly 600 police recruits graduate from UNDP-backed programme

Nearly 600 Somali police recruits – including 50 women officers – have graduated from a training programme sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) aimed at creating a professional civilian police force to work towards restoring peace, gain the community’s trust and champion human rights.

Nearly 600 Somali police recruits – including 50 women officers – have graduated from a training programme sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) aimed at creating a professional civilian police force to work towards restoring peace, gain the community’s trust and champion human rights.

This initiative is one component of UNDP’s efforts – which also include developing oversight mechanisms for the police by establishing Police Advisory Committees – to support the war-torn country’s police and bolster the rule of law and security.

“The training you have all successfully completed emphasized human rights principles as a core component of policing,” UNDP Country Director Bruno Lemarquis said at last week’s graduation ceremony.

He underscored the importance of recognizing that the police are responsible and accountable to the Somali people, and said he expects the graduates to strive to uphold human rights principles every day.

Representatives from the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and State authorities attended the event at Armo Police Training Academy in Puntland, in the country’s north-east.

Recruits for the programme were selected through an inclusive process taking balanced regional representation into account. This is the second group of police recruits to graduate from Armo Academy.