The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has engaged various security agencies in the Upper East Region as part of efforts to enhance their knowledge on gender and youth responsive safeguarding procedures.
The move was part of efforts to equip the security personnel with the skills to safeguard, manage civil and human rights cases with sensitivity and respect, in the maintenance of law and order, particularly with regard to women, youth and marginalised groups.
The two-day training was part of the two-year Peace Building Fund (PBF) being rolled out by a collaboration between the UNFPA and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and being implemented at selected border communities by the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council and the Youth Harvest Foundation Ghana.
The project is aimed at preventing and addressing the root causes of localised conflicts and vulnerabilities to violent extremism in Northern Ghana, particularly the border communities in the Upper East, Upper West and North East Regions.
The training brought together representatives from the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Immigration Service, the Customs, and the Military, among others.
In a speech read on his behalf, Dr Wilfred Ochan, the UNFPA Country Representative to Ghana, said the importance of human rights in maintaining law and order could not be overemphasised and the recent happenings in Northern Ghana highlighted the urgent need for collective efforts to preserving the prevailing peace.
He said the Peace Building Fund project was the United Nations’ leading instrument to invest in conflict prevention and peacebuilding, in partnership with UN Country offices as well as support joint UN responses to address critical peacebuilding opportunities, connecting development, humanitarian, human rights, and peacebuilding pillars.
“Our goal for this training is therefore to prevent violence and foster a culture of understanding, empathy, and respect,” Dr Ochan stated.
He added: “We envisage that when we equip our security personnel with the tools to manage protests, demonstrations, and other forms of public agitation in a manner that respects the rights and dignity of all individuals, we are taking a significant step towards reducing the number of human rights violations, and violent demonstrations.”
That way, he said, “we can create an environment or a system where members of the community resort to peaceful dialogue on all issues of misunderstanding.”
Madam Selina Owusu, Gender Analyst, UNFPA, said the UNFPA Ghana was confident that the knowledge and skills acquired through the training would have a lasting impact, not only in their professional duties but also in their contributions to the broader goal of sustainable development and peace in the communities.
Madam Owusu, who is also the Focal Point for the Peace Building Fund project, expressed optimism that the training would also enable the security agencies work closely with the communities to detect early warning signals of conflict and violent extremism and respond appropriately.
Dr Emma Birikorang, the Acting Director, Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, who facilitated the training, advised the security personnel to work in collaboration with the communities, especially the vulnerable, adding that, it would help them to pick up relevant information necessary for conflict prevention and peace building.
GNA