Say you're a brutal Middle Eastern despot and you want your police to learn how to be especially effective in vicious suppression of dissidents. Where would you go to get training from experts in this field? Amnesty International has the answer:
.Mar 1 2011
After Brutal Libyan Crackdown Amnesty International UK Urges British Government To Review Foreign Police Training Policy
Posted by Sharat under Amnesty International UK , Human Rights No Comments
Amnesty International UK is urging the UK police in Northern Ireland and other parts of Britain to undertake a review of their policy of training police from Libya and Bahrain, after the regimes of both countries brutally cracked down against pro democracy protesters.
Amnesty International said that questions now surround the training methods and what is any human rights criteria were applied given Libya and Bahrain moving to violently crush internal dissent and public protests.
Amnesty International Northern Ireland programme director Patrick Corrigan said: “The PSNI [Police Service of Northern Ireland] has been involved in delivering training to security forces in Libya, Bahrain and other countries with atrocious human rights records.
“Given events in those countries, with the deaths of perhaps hundreds of innocent protesters at the hands of security forces, it looks as if the government’s risk-assessment system isn’t working. We need much tighter checks when training is being given to police forces with a history of human rights abuses.
“We call on the chief constable and the Northern Ireland policing board to look closely at recent events in Libya, Bahrain and other countries where they have helped to train the security forces, to ensure that much-needed lessons are learnt.
“A rigorous human rights assessment must be made before any future agreement to offer training to an overseas police force. In addition, the PSNI should carry out follow-up evaluation to ensure that any training offered results in an improvement in human rights and policing in that country.
“The Northern Ireland Policing Board should ensure that such criteria and assessments are applied to all such overseas training. In addition, we call for greater transparency around the delivery of such training, and ask that the chief constable openly declares such training in his annual report.”
http://www.donation4charity.org/blog/2011/human-rights/after-brutal-libyan-crackdown-amnesty-international-uk-urges-british-government-to-review-foreign-police-training-policy/
(Emphasis supplied)
HMMMMMM
Of course, they've had decades of practice to perfect their techniques:
Amnesty International and British Irish RIGHTS WATCH today urged UK authorities not to forget victims of torture in Northern Ireland, following the release of a new Guardian film by Ian Cobain.
The organisations repeated calls for the investigation of allegations of torture and other ill-treatment and emphasised that such investigations must be included in any mechanism established to deal with outstanding abuses in Northern Ireland’s past.
Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said:
'Victims, including victims of torture, have frequently been left out of the debate about how to deal with the legacy of Northern Ireland’s past. This film shows the emotional scars that many victims still bear, and underlines their right to remedy and reparation.
'There has not been full accountability for the alleged torture and ill-treatment that happened during internment and police custody during the conflict.
'Anyone responsible for torturing people must be held accountable. This should include those higher up the chain of command who authorised torture or ill-treatment of detainees. This must involve the possibility of criminal prosecutions, where appropriate.
'Without this, and without the truth, neither justice nor reconciliation will be achieved and the door will be left open for these abuses to be repeated. Impunity will only breed further injustice.
'We urge the UK and northern Ireland governments to address the recommendations of the Eames-Bradley report as soon as possible in order to move the process forward in dealing with the unresolved human rights abuses in Northern Ireland’s past, on all sides of the conflict.
'Sadly, lessons from Northern Ireland do not appear to have been learnt, with UK security personnel accused of complicity in the torture and ill-treatment of detainees held overseas post-2001. The forthcoming inquiry into these allegations must be empowered to expose and hold to account anyone found responsible, and ensure that the UK’s reputation is not further damaged in the future by association with this foul practice.'
British Irish Rights Watch Director Jane Winter said:
'We have long been aware of serious human rights violations against suspects and prisoners by members of the RUC and the army in Northern Ireland. It is important that these shocking incidents are exposed and that where possible justice is now seen to be done. The impunity around interrogation techniques amounting to torture has continued as we have seen in the case of Iraqi detainee Baha Mousa and others and must now be institutionally expunged.'
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=19036