Human rights education important for future police

At the Police Academy, in cooperation with the Centre for Civic Education (CCE), a programme of additional education on human rights issues was held.

As part of this programme, the second online workshop for participants of the 14th generation of the Police Academy was held today, with a focus on the human rights of marginalized groups, more precisely the rights of LGBT persons, Roma and persons with disabilities. The lecturers of the workshop were the CCE Human Rights Programme Coordinator Tamara Milas and CCE Active Citizenship Programme Coordinator Zeljka Cetkovic. On that occasion, some of the universal values ​​that represent the core of respect for human rights were presented, but also pointed to the harmful consequences that discrimination of certain social groups inflicts on these groups, as well as on society as a whole.

At the previous workshop, Tamara Milas and Milos Vukanovic, historian and advisor at the CCE, through the concept of transitional justice, pointed out the importance of the process of dealing with the past, with reference to war crimes committed on the territory of Montenegro in 1990s. During that lecture, the importance of establishing responsibilities at all levels was emphasized, and academics were introduced to the principles of humanity during armed conflicts, which are proclaimed by the Geneva and Hague Conventions, i.e., two key documents whose provisions must be respected during armed conflicts.

The last workshop within the programme will include torture and the right to human dignity, with an elaboration of the positive and negative consequences of the application of police powers, treatment of detainees, witness protection, etc.

It is of great importance for future police officers to be aware of the need to respect the human rights of every citizen without distinction when performing very complex and demanding police work.