Where are the good cops?

Human Rights. Accountability. Democratic values. These are not concepts that most people would match with their local police force. As a new report from the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) notes, Africa includes good cops and bad cops: good policing that upholds the human rights of the citizens; and bad policing where the police act as violent oppressors controlled by the political elite. The report ‘Police Accountability: Too Important to Neglect, Too Urgent to Delay’ provides an overview of accountability arrangements, highlights good practice, and gives recommendations for reform to assist governments, police officials, and civil society in developing and strengthening effective accountability regimes as part of the move towards truly democratic policing. Pambazuka News sent some questions to CHRI about the state of policing in Africa.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: What are some of the policing problems related to human rights that are common to Africa?

CHRI: The violation of civil liberties by police, particularly rights of due process and disobedience to procedural law, is a glaring problem that seriously affects human rights and undermines the rule of law. This includes detaining people without reasonable cause, or for longer than permissible without bringing them before the appropriate authority, or carrying out arrests without warrants, illegal searches and seizures, or denying those arrested access to legal counsel.

Torture by police continues despite international and domestic laws and governments' promises, and hinges on impunity for those perpetuating it. Alarmingly, the demographic of people being tortured and/or illegally detained in Commonwealth countries, including Africa, by the police is very wide and speaks to governments' suppression of dissent as much as violation of law and human rights, as it can include suspected terrorists, but also armed insurgents, legitimate political opponents, government critics, suspected criminals, homosexuals, religious/racial minorities, suspected rebels/insurgents, human rights defenders, foreigners, to name a few.

Human rights are most seriously affected when the police act on illegitimate orders, or in some cases arbitrarily, to curb rights and freedoms.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: What could be defined as effective and legitimate policing?

CHRI: CHRI is committed to promoting a model of democratic policing in which the police are:
- subject to the rule of law and responsible to protect human rights;
- accountable to a variety of institutions;
- transparent about policies, decisions and actions taken in most spheres of their work;
- responsive to the people they serve; and
- representative of the people they serve.

This is the model of effective and legitimate policing that democracy demands and governments are duty bound to provide.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: What is the effect of bad policing on democratic governance?

CHRI: Bad policing means the public is not getting the service it deserves from a public agency, and the police are not doing their duty. More broadly, bad policing usually means the public does not trust its police, fueling a feeling of vulnerability and lawlessness. The effect of all this is that it moves people further away from their governments and makes governance less democratic.

Bad policing and impunity persist not by accident, but by design. If people do not feel assured of state protection from crime, if people are being tortured by the police for political ends, if the people feel the police, or even worse the entire criminal justice system, is controlled by government - these are sure signs that the system of checks and balances which is so critical to democratic governance is failing. Bad policing can also affect the functioning of the criminal justice system as a whole. If the police are not carrying out their investigative and law enforcement duties lawfully, this can influence the quality of evidence presented in court and have serious consequences in terms of "fair trial" guarantees.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: What are the gender implications of bad policing?

CHRI: Crimes against women abound across the Commonwealth but are often met with a very poor response by the police, with stereotypes and traditionalist attitudes prejudicing the way a predominantly male bastion handles women's cases. Rape, domestic violence and trafficking are usually under-policed - this happens because of lack of domestic legal protection, stigma in reporting, but also because of the unsympathetic response of law enforcement agencies towards victims. Women may trust the police less than men, and in many Commonwealth countries, women fear the police. This is unjustifiable when seen against the volume of crimes committed against women all across the Commonwealth, and the special attention women need from the police.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: What are some of the international laws and protocols signed up to by African countries that govern policing and to what extent do these govern policing and provide a mechanism for redress?

CHRI: This is discussed in more detail in chapter 3 of the report, but for a quick overview:

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the seminal human rights document that all Commonwealth countries have agreed to, enshrines fundamental human rights for all. Police organisations are expected to know and enforce the UDHR and uphold, defend and protect people's civil and political rights, as well as foster an environment that will promote their economic, social and cultural rights.

The human rights standards laid down in the UDHR have been refined and re-stated in legally binding treaties that guarantee civil and political rights, rights against racial discrimination, women's rights, children's rights, and rights against torture, among others.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) contain special provisions regarding policing, and together with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICMW), form the seven core UN human rights treaties.

Importantly, some of the treaty committees accept complaints from individuals whose rights have been violated which could lead to redress - these include the Human Rights Committee, the Committee against Torture, Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

The 1990 UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials and the 1979 UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials were both adopted by UN General Assembly resolutions, and do not have the same binding status of international conventions and treaties. Nevertheless, they are seminal for the police and are designed to guide domestic legal and policy formulation, with the Code of Conduct setting out basic standards for policing agencies, and the Basic Principles providing a series of human rights standards regarding the use of force and firearms by law enforcement officials.

In Africa specifically, The African Charter on Human and People's Rights or Banjul Charter was adopted by the members of the former Organisation of African Unity - OAU (now the African Union) in 1981. In the Commonwealth context, it is the youngest of the regional mechanisms and also the most widely accepted of the regional charters, with 53 ratifications or accessions. All African country members of the Commonwealth are part of the regional Charter. The African Commission on Human and People's Rights is the institution created under the Charter to promote and protect human rights in Africa and interpret the Banjul Charter when required by the states or institutions of the African Union. The Commission has procedures in place to receive complaints from states and individuals.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Briefly, what reforms are needed and what would be the key aspects of a democratic police organisation?

CHRI: Reforming police organisations across the Commonwealth requires changing and refining laws to reflect the rights-based approach, putting in place innovative institutional mechanisms that can ensure independent oversight of the police, and altering the culture within police organisations by properly implementing disciplinary and ethical standards. As well, the traditional oversight of the police by the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government must be strengthened.

Democratic policing is applicable to any context in the Commonwealth, rich or poor, large or small, diverse or homogenous. In a nutshell, a democratic police organisation is one that:
- Is accountable to the law, and not a law unto itself;
- Is accountable to democratic government structures and the community;
- Is transparent in its activities;
- Gives top operational priority to protecting the safety and rights of individuals;
- Protects human rights;
- Provides professional services;
- Is representative of the communities it serves.

A key feature of democratic policing is that the police are formally held to account, in a variety of ways, for their performance as much as for any wrongdoing. Police officers found guilty must be made to bear the consequences.

* These questions were answered by Devika Prasad, a Research Assistant to the Access to Justice Unit. The report and executive summary can be downloaded from the CHRI website:
www.humanrightsinitiative.org or the link could be viewed at http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/publications/chogm/chogm_2005/defa…

* Please send comments to [email protected]