16 December 2011 - To improve knowledge about the appropriate treatment of prisoners as well as general rule of law, UNMISS concluded a two-day training for 35 police and prison officers in Malakal, Upper Nile State.

Organized by the UNMISS human rights unit, the session aimed to sensitize officers on how to deal with suspects and prisoners who are in custody.

Training topics included human rights, police code of conduct, community policing, crime prevention and human rights during detention.

Upper Nile State Police Commissioner Brigadier Joseph Mading Ajiing expressed satisfaction with the training and congratulated UNMISS for providing comprehensive course content.

Brig. Ajiing expressed his wish that UNMISS expand the training and provide additional courses for officers in 2012.

He urged officers who had participated to inform their colleagues on the importance of respecting the rights of detainees, especially women and children, in their custody.

"The course you have done is considered a basic one," Brig. Ajiing said. "Some of the issues discussed in here are components of higher education courses and you have taken them during the two days' workshop. I call up on all who have participated to put these and others into practice."

He instructed officers to educate their counterparts who had not been part of the workshop about human rights and gender balance.