Police acquire refugee protection skills

The Inspector General of Police, Emmanuel K. Gasana on Tuesday officially launched a one-day training workshop on the international protection of refugees at the Rwanda National Police Headquarters in Kacyiru. The training was organized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), whose country representative, Saber Azam, attended its opening. Other participants besides the police officers were officials from MIDMAR (Ministry in charge of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs) and the Rwanda Directorate General of Immigration and Emigration. The participants were trained on ensuring security for refugees, emergency response and how to attend to persons with specific needs. While addressing participants, IGP Gasana reiterated the police’s dedication to ensuring that refugees on Rwandan territory are secure and refugee camps are protected in line with principles of international refugee law. “Our partnership with UNHCR has been emphasized especially in the areas of justice, child protection, prevention and response to sexual and gender based violence”, Gasana said. One stop centres named ‘Turikumwe’, were established in some refugee camps as pilot projects and these would be extended to other camps. “Trainings of this kind help police officers to freshen their skills in as far as protection of refugees is concerned and concerted efforts should be devised to sensitise refugees against involvement in any kind of criminal activities,” the IGP told participants. He reiterated that RNP remains committed to the protection of refuges and would always be ready to join efforts with partners to solve disasters. The UNHCR Country representative, Saber Azam told participants that it’s a responsibility of Rwandans to ensure the refugees’ security and protection maintained international standards and requested security organs to work closely with UNHCR. “This training is the beginning of a fruitful cooperation between UNHCR, RNP, MIDMAR and Immigration and we look forward to build a solid relationship”, Saber said.

News

Police acquire refugee protection skills