Danish Minister visits Niger's National Police School
During her recent official visit to Niger, the Danish Minister for Development Cooperation, Ulla Tørnæs, also visited Niger's National Police School. Ibrahim Mairiga, the Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR) national representative in Niger, participated in the visit along with the director of the Police School, Laouali Madougou, who presented the school's work with human rights education to the minister.
The Danish Institute for Human Rightshas had a partnership with the National Police of Niger since 2002, working primarily on strengthening the human rights education offered by the School. Through this partnership, the School has developed their own human rights training material for their students, adapted to their local context and needs. The Institute has provided technical support along the way, but the approach emphasises the ownership of the School in developing the material.
At the visit, Mr. Madougou talked about how education has affected the officers' way of making interrogations and treating persons in detention, areas where the officers were not previously aware of the rights of the suspects. And the visit madea big impression on the Minister.
The education of Niger's police forces in human rights are important for the stability of the country, and therefore it is important for Denmark to contribute to that end.
The visit to Niger's national Police School was part of the Minister's official visit to Niger, which also included visits to other projects in the country financed by the Danish development cooperation (DANIDA).