Luanda Guidelines help women in custody
The Danish Institute for Human Rights (DIHR), together with the African Policing Civil Oversight Forum (APCOF), helped develop the Guidelines on the Conditions of Arrest, Police Custody and Pre-Trial Detention (the Luanda Guidelines), adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in April 2014.
The guidelines aim at improving the treatment of persons subject to arrest, police custody and pre-trial detention by police forces in Africa to ensure that the treatment complies with the relevant international norms.
The use of the Luanda Guidelines to protect women was widely debated during the 59th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Banjul in the Republic of Gambia in late October. The commission decided to focus on women's rights in all the major debates since the African Union have declared 2016 the year of women's rights in Africa.
Melody Kozah, Project Officer at the African Policing Civil Oversight Forum (APCOF) in South Africa, confirms that the guidelines are an effective tool to secure the human rights of women in custody.
Women in detention and prison are very vulnerable. The Luanda Guidelines specifically provides for the protection of the rights of these women. Such as the fact that women detainees should be searched by female law enforcement officials and the fact that they should be held separately from male detainees.
The APCOF is a Not-for-Profit Trust working on issues of police accountability and governance in Africa, and have been the partner of DIHR since 2014. DIHR and APCOF are cooperating with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on policing and human rights, and the collaboration has emphasised the crosscutting nature of policing or, to put it differently, that policing has an impact on the enjoyment of most human rights.
"What is of specific interest is the fact that the Luanda guidelines emphasize the need for states to take into account reasonable suspension of detention because of the needs that women have once detained. For example you find that nursing mothers in prison needs particular attention with regards to dietary requirements as well as the fact that they need sanitary towels", says Melody Kozah.
Since the adoption of the Luanda Guidelines Melody Kozah and her colleagues from APCOF have been busy with national stakeholders in nine countries spread all over Africa to secure the implementation of the Guidelines, thus securing that they actually have an effect.
Ulrik Spliid, Programme Manager Africa at The Danish Institute for Human Rights appreciates the work done to implement the Luanda Guidelines: "The Danish Institute works a lot to strengthen the normative frameworks that secure human rights. Regrettably, it is not uncommon that the work stops once the framework is in place. This is unfortunate, as a piece of paper doesn't make a difference if it is not implemented. Therefore, we pleased that steps are taken to implement the Luanda Guidelines at the national level, and we are confident that the Luanda Guidelines are beginning to actually have an effect on the lives of vulnerable people ", says Ulrik Spliid.
VIDEO: See Melody Kozah explain, why the guidelines are important.
- are aimed at ensuring that the treatment complies with the relevant international norms.
-comprise of nine parts, each dealing with a distinct facet of arrest, police custody and pre-trial detention.
-were developed with core technical contributions from the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum with the Danish Institute for Human Rights.