Topic:
Cooperation between the Ministry of Interior, Municipalities and the United Nations children’s Fund (UNICEF) on strengthening the capacity of law enforcement officials to deal with children who are in violation of or in conflict with the law.
Aim:
The UNICEF objective in this cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior and Municipalities is to develop an integrated program aiming to develop the capabilities of the Internal Security Forces and Municipal Police to better deal with issues related to child protection.
Background:
Children, as adults, are concerned by the applicable laws and regulations in different ways which involve: abidance by the law and ensuring that it is not violated, being protected from the risk of danger, victims and witnesses of a crime, or children who are in need of special care. The way in which the public organizations that deal with justice and the social welfare and security should take all aspects into consideration as they fall under the subject of children’s rights and an integral part of the rule of law that cannot be ignored.
That being said, there is currently a common public concern about the limit of knowledge and skills that municipal police and law enforcement personnel have when dealing with children related matters, such as ensuring good practice during interviews and interrogations for instance, or keeping confidentiality protocols. In addition, the code of justice in Lebanon contains certain deficiencies in the law enforcement and the respective people involved such as social workers and legal aid providers on children’s issues.
In the last recent years, the improvements that have been conducted in building the capacity of the ISF in dealing with children issues have contributed significantly to strengthening the officer’s knowledge with respect to law enforcement and the child protection plan. However, this training is often conducted in a standardized manner for selected members of the police which has led to a degree of fragmentation in the capacity-building process, where not all staff members have received the same training, resulting in some discrepancies’ in dealing with children matters.
This selection of police officers makes it more difficult to develop and sustain knowledge and skills which will ultimately lead to an unsatisfactory outcome in investing in such training programs. For that reason, it is only through an institutional approach and through a proper full training program that such developments could be insured.
Objective and Activities:
UNICEF aims at encouraging the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities by providing support in order to better strengthen the capacity of the ISF and Municipal Police in the area of children protection through standardize training that will include in-service training for everyone involved.
Expected Results:
The intervention of the UNICEF is expected to achieve the following:
- Unify operations with the Internal Security Forces in dealing with cases involving children in conflict with the law or at risk or even children who are victims and/or witnesses.
- Adapting existing training resources and materials for Internal Security Forces and Municipal police to include best child-friendly policing practices, and developing new training materials where necessary in accordance with the standard operating procedures.
- Establish a group of trainers specialized in best police practices for the child from the ISF as a first stage and from the Municipal Police as a second stage.
Expected Cost:
The estimated cost of the above planned interventions is $190,000, which will be distributed in the following manner:
- $54, 000 for meetings/consultations/workshops to gather stakeholders involved in the preparation of training materials. Every event: 30 participants, $50 per participant-A total of 36 events.
- $26, 000 for technical assistance
- $100, 000 for the implementation of the building-capacity project which includes training and developmental programs.
- $10, 000 for the printing and distributions of publications.
UNICEF-Lebanon will provide technical financial resources to the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities to implement agreed activities. UNICEF may use a combination of funding patterns according to the needs and circumstances.
