Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Nicanor A. Bartolome gave the keynote address at the opening of the instructors’ development training course on human rights-based policing for forty human rights officers taking place from March 19 to 30, 2012. This activity is a step towards institutionalizing the PNP’s core of human rights officers. The training combines theoretical discussions, case analysis, practical applications and role playing in promoting respect for human rights and enhancing the PNP’s ability to respond to human rights-related issues in its community-policing activities.

In his keynote address, PNP Chief Bartolome affirmed the PNP’s support for these types of training activities which promote human rights-based policing, this being among his ten-point action plan for the organization. He stated his desire to see within his term significant results of this, and follow-on training activities such as having fully functioning human rights help desks in all police stations throughout the country. Following this instructors’ training course, the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) will support roll-out training activities for key regional and provincial human rights officers to be held in strategic areas throughout the country. The HSF will also support other activities to strengthen the qualifications of PNP human rights officers consistent with their career goals.

During the opening ceremony, HSF Resident Representative Paul G. Schäfer mentioned that even without HSF assistance, the PNP will be expected to further replicate training activities for human rights officers nationwide, the forty participants under the training course serving as the core network of instructors. Mr. Schäfer added that HSF will monitor the participants’ work and may conduct additional training to enhance the trainers’ abilities to communicate and promote rights-based policing. He added that the entire national police must act as one human rights-based organization to realize its mission to promote the respect for human rights starting with its mindset, governing policies and supplementing this through training and logistics.

This instructor development training course is conducted in collaboration with the United States Department of Justice’ International Criminal Investigative Technical Assistance Program (ICITAP) and the latter providing resource persons for the instructor development training modules. During the opening ceremony, ICITAP Program Manager Richard W. Miller welcomed the opportunity to collaborate with other donor agencies. He said that the respect for human rights is an underlying theme of their program to develop a professional and transparent Philippine National Police force that protects human rights, combats corruption, and reduces the threat of transnational crime using a combination of program assessments, management, and review; curriculum development; classroom training, seminars, and workshops, among others.

Message of PNP Director General Nicanor A. Bartolome

Message of Mr. Paul G. Schäfer