From 26 July to 31 July 2021, Valérie Gabard, co-founder of UpRights delivered two trainings for members of the National Commission for Human Rights and for members of civil society organisations on best practices for the documentation of serious human violations and international crimes as part of the “Human Rights and Access to Justice in Burkina Faso” program (DHAJ) lead by the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI).
From 26 to 28 July 2021, UpRights delivered a training for the members and the staff of the Burkina Faso National Commission for Human Rights. The three-day training centred on techniques to improve the documentation of serious human violations and international crimes in the context of crises or conflict situations.
The deterioration of the security situation in Burkina Faso in recent years has led to an increase in the number and a change in the nature of serious human rights violations and abuses committed in the country. The training was designed to assist the commissioners and staff of the National Commission for Human Rights in carrying out their human rights documentation mandate in this context. The goal of the training, according to Valérie Gabard, co-founder of UpRights “is to give this relatively young institution a systematic framework and the tools to facilitate the work of investigators in the field”.
This training was followed by a two-day training on the same topic for civil societies organisations (field partners of the National Commission for Human Rights) and members of two working groups within the Commission. It was the first capacity-building training for Civil Society Organizations from the region, and it aimed at harmonizing the practices of the organisations for the documentation of serious human violations and international crimes in the context of Burkina Faso.
“This training is welcome because it meets the needs of our work in the field as members of an organization for the defense of human rights, particularly in terms of information collection, treatment, approach, organization of field missions, and especially of documentation and data backup. Given the situation the country is going through, this training will allow us to be more productive”, said at the end of the training Ousséni Maïga, Secretary general of the Center for Good Governance in the Sahel, Vice-president of the working group “Service to victims including legal and judicial assistance”.
These two capacity building trainings are part of the “Human Rights and Access to Justice in Burkina Faso” program (DHAJ), a program funded by the American Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by a consortium of organisations comprising the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI – leader of the project) but also Freedom House, Search For Common Ground, and Pact.
To learn more, follow the links to the Burkina Faso National Commission for Human Rights website:
Renforcement de capacités : Les membres de la CNDH formés aux techniques d’investigation
Investigation des cas de violation des droits humains : Des OSCs formées afin d’harmoniser les pratiques