South Africa supporting conflict resolution across Africa. Shaun Benton. Bua News.
29/06/2005
South African police, military and intelligence officials are currently working in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Côte d´Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Burundi and Madagascar, the Minister of Safety and Security told a media briefing today. View details>>>

Safety and Security Portfolio Committee. Committee workshop recommendations: strategic planning. 01/06/2005
The Chairperson discussed the recommendations reached at the Committee´s Caledon workshop, focusing particularly on the development of a monitoring tool, and the format of a questionnaire, that would assist the Committee in evaluating the implementation of policy and challenges faced at individual police stations. A Committee task team would be created to assist the development of this monitoring tool in conjunction with civic organisations and the provinces. The Chairperson also raised the problem of non-attendance by the provinces, which became a general discussion about the problems in communication between the Portfolio Committee, the Standing Committees of the Provinces, the Provincial MEC´s, the media, and the Minister. Another issue raised by Members revolved around the usefulness of more regular crime statistics being provided to the Committee.
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POLICING AND THE RULE OF LAW IN MOZAMBIQUE
Policing and Society, 2003, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 139-158 "Policing concerns a central issue of democracy, namely the rule of law. It is the rule of law that determines the degree to which political and human rights are enjoyed equally. Unlike the established democracies, Mozambique is trying to establish the rule of law after it has introduced democracy. This article examines how successful it has been in the area of democratic policing. Not surprisingly, given the legacy of the civil war and the one-party state, plus limited resources, the exercise is faltering. At present, the conduct of the police is not consistently subject to the rule of law, nor are they adequately accountable, accessible, impartial, representative or transparent. It will be very difficult to achieve backwards democratization in this area unless resources are channelled into strengthening police capacity and there is the political will to impose change".
Author: Bruce Baker.
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A Report on Poor Peoples´ Perceptions and Priorities on Safety, Security and Informal Policing in A2J Focal States in Nigeria.
"Debates about how to improve safety and security for urban communities and rural dwellers in Nigeria are beginning to pay increasing attention to informal policing structures (IPS), which are set up by people living in poverty in response to the apparent inability of the formal police to adequately protect them from crime." "The purpose of this study, therefore, was to provide documented evidence to inform programme development on the subject. It also fills the observed gap in the literature by providing a comprehensive understanding of the expectations, priorities and perceptions of people living in poverty in Nigeria with respect to safety and security in general and informal policing structures in particular". 362 pages.
Author: Etannibi Alemika & Innocent Chukwuma, CLEEN.Published Date: 2004

THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE AT THE OPEN SOCIETY FOUNDATION FOR SOUTH AFRICA will be hosting a workshop focusing on civil society policing oversight. This will be held from the 25 to 26 July 2005

Purpose of the Workshop
The goal of strengthening civil society´s role in policing oversight was central to the 2002-2004 policing project of the OSF-SA and the Criminal Justice Initiative. The project has made a significant contribution to researching new issues and reinvigorating the debate on policing oversight. At the same time, the importance of continuing the momentum created by this initiative has been consistently identified. The OSF-SA will be hosting a two-day workshop to report back on the 2002-2004 project, discuss and debate the project evaluation and identify key issues to take forward. The workshop will also discuss the merits of facilitating greater civil society interaction on policing oversight with the goal of strengthening civil society´s role in respect of policing oversight both in South Africa and in the region more broadly.

Police Reforms: Too Important to Neglect, Too Urgent to Delay-The 2005
report of The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative to the Commonwealth Heads
of Government Meeting.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) is held every two years
and is the key event in the Commonwealth calendar. The next Meeting is
scheduled to take place from 21-25 November 2005, in Malta. To coincide
with each CHOGM, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), an
independent, non-partisan, international non-governmental organisation
mandated to ensure the practical realisation of human rights across the
Commonwealth, releases a major report on a human rights theme.

To be launched in Malta, CHRI is currently putting the finishing touches on
the 2005 report, titled Police Reforms: Too Important To Neglect, Too
Urgent To Delay, which is on the subject of police accountability. The
report is the result of more than a year´s research by a team of CHRI
researchers in the New Delhi office, and elsewhere in the Commonwealth. CHRI
believes that policing and safety issues are increasingly important to both
governments and individuals, and also that these issues pose some of the
most significant human rights challenges in the Commonwealth. It describes,
for the first time, patterns of policing, arrangements for accountability,
and some of the problems of police misconduct across the Commonwealth. In
addition, the report makes recommendations about police reform, including
updating of archaic legislation, that need to be addressed by Commonwealth
governments and other key stakeholders.

There is also a tentative plan to hold an ´Africa launch´ of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative report on police accountability in the Commonwealth together with a workshop from 13-15 October in Ghana.