HREA is assisting the Victoria Police (Australia) with the professional development of its staff on international human rights standards and policing. In 2006 the state of Victoria adopted a Charter on Human Rights and Responsibilities, which codifies several international human rights commitments and obliges state government bodies, including the police, to operate within a human rights framework. Through it Police and Human Rights Project the Victoria Police aims to heighten human rights awareness of its 14,000 members and to strenghten human rights compliance within its policing.
As part of the partnership police prosecutors and legal specialists from the Victoria Police participated in HREA’s on-line Human Rights Litigation courses in 2008. HREA carried out a five-day training for senior sergeants and inspectors of the Victoria Police in Melbourne in December 2008. While in Australia HREA’s Director of Programmes Frank Elbers also presented a workshop on HRE and the police during the Inaugural Australasian Conference on Human Rights and the Police (8-10 December). A follow-up to the training workshop via e-learning, including project work, is foreseen for the Spring of 2009.