UN convenes human rights training for Lesotho Correctional Service officers

Through the National Dialogue process of 2018 and 2019, recommendations were made which included reforms to the security sector in Lesotho, to ensure that security sector agencies conduct their operations in line with international human rights standards. The reforms call for capacity building of officers working in the security sector on human rights.

As a party to several international and regional human rights conventions and treaties, Lesotho is under obligation to comply with the human rights commitments that the country has made including the rights of persons deprived of liberty. The Bill of Rights in the Lesotho Constitution provides for rights that are supposed to be protected, promoted and enjoyed by all. There are rights that relate to the treatment of persons deprived of liberty including inmates held in correctional facilities.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) today convened the start of a three-day training for Correctional Service officers in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Resident Coordinator’s Office.

The Senior Human Rights Adviser to the UN in Lesotho who spoke on behalf of the acting UN Resident Coordinator quoted a popular saying by one human rights defender who once said: “A society should be judged not by how it treats its outstanding citizens but by how it treats its criminals”.

Among other topics such as “Human Rights Principles of Good Prison Management”, the training will further sensitize correctional service officers on the rights of inmates, other correctional service employees and the community at large.

“I hope this training will remind you all of your duty to respect and ensure that the rights of inmates are respected, because they also have rights” remarked Assistant Commissioner of the Lesotho Correctional Services, Mr Sekila Joel Majara.

This training of trainers (ToT) is a part of a training programme which will identify trainers who will be equipped with knowledge, skills and tools for conducting human rights training to fellow correctional officers throughout the country.