Police need human rights training - minister

An Iraqi police officer at a blocked junction is screaming at the driver of a white saloon that has caused the jam, aiming his AK-47 just inches from the car's radiator. When the driver doesn't flinch, the officer waves the gun at the front tyre, before turning and shooting in the air. It's just one example of the type of behaviour that has brought widespread criticism of the new police force, although many incidents remain unreported given that there are currently 136,000 new police officers and soldiers on the streets. In particular, a report published by Human Rights Watch (HRW) in late January 2005 highlighted cases of abuse by Iraqi security forces. It called for the government and the international community to ensure that all incidents were investigated properly while working to change the underlying culture. Speaking to IRIN in Baghdad, Iraq's human rights minister, Baktiar Amin, voiced his own concerns about a lack of emphasis on human rights in police training, while outlining the government's plans to improve awareness of human rights among the population in general. Hundreds of new policemen, soldiers and prison guards have been receiving training from the US military in preparation for its departure, but the human rights element of their training has been dropped in favour of tactical warfare techniques, Amin said. An eight-week training course which used to include classroom discussions about basic tolerance and respect had been trimmed to six weeks, he explained. "When we asked why, they told us life was more important," he said. A US military spokesman did not confirm directly that the human rights element had been dropped from security forces' training, but it was not listed in a recent press release touting the graduation of more than 2,800 former security personnel who have now rejoined the Iraqi army. Soldiers were trained in weapons use, security procedures, patrolling, checkpoints, first aid, and basic field and fighting skills, the release said. Amin acknowledged there was a need for better training in light of the country's past. "We inherited a terrible totalitarian culture," the minister said. "You need to train every single policeman, ever single soldier, on human rights and international law." Just ahead of US President George Bush's visit to Europe last week, the European Union pledged to provide training for over 700 police officers and judges in 2005, which should help to address the situation. Amin noted that Germany has also offered help, and the United Nations has 36 related projects on training in the works. But in Iraq's often violent society, it can sometimes be hard to tell who might need human rights training more - the police or the people they protect. Many police recently started wearing black ski masks, for example. Ask residents what they think of the drastic measure, and many say the police need the masks for "protection" from people who might kill them. Hundreds of police recruits have died in recent months in car bomb attacks and other violence directed at them by insurgents. "They [the police] have leadership classes on how you deal with people, so they are discussing [human rights]," Sabah Kadim, an Interior Ministry spokesman, told IRIN. "We continue to remind the police that they are serving the people, not fighting them." Amin hopes to introduce human rights training into schools next year so that children will learn more about tolerance and peace, he said. The ministry is also opening offices in Iraq's 18 governorates to introduce human rights-related programmes. However, in many cases, human rights is still an uphill battle in Iraq. Iraqi human rights monitors visit prisons across the country several times a week, especially Abu Ghraib, just west of Baghdad, and Camp Buka in the south. That doesn't stop incidents such as a prison riot late last week in which four prisoners were killed at Buka during a search for contraband, Amin said. Iraqi prison guards and police now watch regular prisoners, while US troops still control "security detainees" - a classification not covered by the Geneva Convention. "When we find shortcomings, we investigate ourselves, and often jointly," the human rights minister said. "In the Buka case, if excessive force was used, those involved should be brought to justice." Pentagon officials say fewer than a third of the Iraqis who have been trained as security force personnel are able to handle most threats in their country. Only about 40,000 members of the forces are considered to be adequately trained, Gen Richard B. Myers, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee recently. Considerable "unauthorised leave" keeps the Iraqi forces operating at only about 60 percent of their total strength, Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said in a meeting the same day on Washington's Capitol Hill. But the ongoing violence continues to make long-term solutions hard to implement. "We need our policemen now. We can't wait for two years to put them on the street, which is how long it takes to train them in some European countries," Amin said. "It will take time to remedy this culture."