ODIHR trains Georgian law enforcement officers on the protection of human rights while countering terrorism

Georgian law enforcement officers completed a three-day training course on 18 May 2012, organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, on the protection of human rights while countering terrorism.

The course was attended by more than 25 senior and mid-level police officers from Georgia’s Special Operations, Counter-Terrorism and Patrol Police working in the area of combating terrorism. They were provided with an overview of the regional and international human rights provisions relevant to counter-terrorism work in the Georgian context.

The training also covered the prohibition of torture and ill treatment, the right to life, detention conditions and the right to liberty, data protection and investigation techniques, and the freedom of thought and expression.

“The protection and promotion of human rights are essential ingredients in any effective and sustainable strategy to counter terrorism and violent extremism,” said Mårten Löfberg, an ODIHR Human Rights and Anti-Terrorism Officer. “Violations of human rights fuel perceptions of alienation and exclusion, and might in themselves be driving forces behind terrorist radicalization.”

The training on countering terrorism and protecting human rights is based on ODIHR’s mandate to assist OSCE participating States, upon their request, in ensuring that international human rights standards are upheld in counter-terrorism legislation and practice.

The programme was developed by ODIHR in 2005, and 19 courses have been conducted throughout the OSCE area since.