Diplomats, human rights activists train in peace building
Diplomats and human rights activists from 11 African countries are attending courses in peace building and human rights protection at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra.
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The ‘Development Diplomacy for Peace and Security’ and ‘Human Rights’ courses are to empower the participants to respond to threats before they develop into crises.
Some of the topics being treated at the one-week course are International Institutional Framework for Security Cooperation, Reinforcing Skills for Conflict Analysis and Knowledge of Humanitarian Law.
The participants are from Togo, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Mali, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda and South Sudan.
The training programme is sponsored by the German Federal Enterprise for International Cooperation (GIZ).
KAIPTC training director
In his opening remarks, the Director of Training at the KAIPTC, Col Edwin Adjei (Retd), said Africa had made considerable progress in the pursuit of peace, development and stability in the last decade.
However, he said there had also been conflicts, civil wars, religious strife, human rights violations, war crimes, atrocities, terrorism and piracy.
Those conflicts, he noted, had resulted in extensive loss of lives, human suffering and material damage “that have adversely affected Africa’s development agenda”.
Col Adjei said many of the conflicts and human rights violations could have been avoided if developments had been analysed properly and appropriate measures taken.
That, he said, reinforced the necessity for skills and knowledge in international institutional framework for security cooperation and humanitarian law.
He said the courses would engender the exchange of ideas among the participants and also help foster personal and professional relationships among regional actors.
Such relationships, Col Adjei said, would promote the exchange of information, stronger collaboration and quicker reaction to threats before they degenerated into crises.
German Ambassador
The German Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Ruediger John, said it was in the interest of the German government to support the African Union, its regional organisations and member states to develop the capacity of the continent’s peacekeepers and peace builders.
He expressed the hope that by the end of the training, participants would have advanced their skills in observing, reporting and advocating human rights, diplomacy, peace and security.