Police Reforms: Africa
Police Reforms: Too Important to Neglect, Too Urgent to Delay

West Africa

For information about our police programme in West Africa, click here.

East Africa Project

CHRI has been working in East Africa since 2001, conducting research, building networks, producing publications and hosting roundtable conferences.

Publications

CHRI has published five reports on policing in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The first three reports look at police accountability generally. The publications - The police, the people, the politics: Police accountability in Kenya, The police, the people, the politics: Police accountability in Uganda and The police, the people, the politics: Police accountability in Tanzania - look at the development of the police force in each country, examine the issues facing the police and consider the legislative and political frameworks that the police operate within. Each report also looks at the reforms that need to take place and sets out a roadmap for reform in each country. The Kenya report was published with the Kenya Human Rights Commission. Electronic copies of the reports are available on the links below.

The police, the people, the politics: Police accountability in Kenya
The police, the people, the politics: Police accountability in Uganda
The police, the people, the politics: Police accountability in Tanzania

The second group of publications consider policing budgets in each country, looking at the impact that funding has on police performance, crime management community safety.

A review of the Kenya Police Force budget and its effect on crime management
A review of the Uganda Police Force budget and its effect on crime management

Hardcopies of all reports are available by email request by clicking here.

2003 roundtable conference

CHRI held its first roundtable conference on policing in East Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, in April 2003, in partnership with the Kenya Human Rights Commission. The major discussion topic at the conference was how to move the East African police forces to police services. Significant recommendations emerged, some of which were forwarded for consideration of the Kenyan National Constitutional Conference (NCC) that followed in the week immediately after the conference.

The report from the roundtable is available here, and a response to the report is available here. A selection of the papers given at the roundtable are available below:

Democratic Reform of Police---any lessons for Kenya from South Africa?
David Bruce, Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, Johannesburg
Civilian Oversight of Police in South Africa: cases received by the Independent Complaints Directorate
David Bruce, Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, Johannesburg

2006 roundtable conference

CHRI held a second regional roundtable on policing in East Africa in Arusha, Tanzania, in June 2006. The roundtable brought together delegates from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, as well as experts from Ghana, Australia and India to look at policing trends and challenges across the East African region, and within the national borders of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The delegates found that "reform of the police is required to provide a police service that fulfils its mandate of protecting the safety and security of all. The state has a responsibility to provide an efficient, accountable and democratic system of policing which enhances the enjoyment of rights and development."

The delegates also explored the challenges to good policing in East Africa. These challenges include police brutality and excessive use of force, outdated legal regimes, corruption, illegitimate political interference, militarisation of civilian policing bodies, partiality, impunity, internal police culture and hierarchies, lack of transparency, lack of adequate training and resources, police recruitment processes, poor service and working conditions, lack of adherence to the rule of law and lack of reform in the broader criminal justice sector.

The delegates proposed a number of points of action. They called on police, civil society and national human rights institutions to create networks and to make use of advocacy opportunities such as the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, due to take place in Kampala, Uganda, next year. The delegates also called on governments, civil society and national human rights institutions to work towards the demilitarisation of police in East Africa, the amendment of police laws to reflect democratic principles of policing and the strengthening of police accountability mechanisms such as civilian oversight bodies.

The programme for the 2006 roundtable is available here, while the final statement is available here. A selection of the papers given at the roundtable are available below:

Police accountability in Kenya
Debra Ajwang, Kenya Human Rights Commission

Police accountability in Kenya
Vincent Kodongo, Independent Medico-Legal Unit

Police accountability in Tanzania
Francis Kiwanga, Legal and Human Rights Centre

National Human Rights Institutions as police oversight bodies
Roselyn Karugonjo-Segawa, Uganda Human Rights Commission

National Human Rights Institutions as police oversight bodies
Rebeca Muniu, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights

Ghana Police Council
Edmund Foley, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (Africa office)

2007 roundtable conference

Police accountability and effectiveness in Eastern Africa

Over three days from the 11 to 13 June 2007, over sixty delegates from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda attended a conference on Police Accountability and Effectiveness in Eastern Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. The conference was convened by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), the African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF) and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI). Delegates hailed from across civil society, national human rights institutions, police oversight agencies, judiciary, academia, government bodies, diplomatic corps, international organisations and the media. Participants met to discuss the parallels of and challenges to policing, and the importance of police accountability and oversight in the East African region.

The conference provided delegates with the opportunity to exchange their experiences of policing throughout Eastern Africa and to plan for higher levels of police accountability and effectiveness in the region. Participants recognised that police effectiveness depends upon police legitimacy in the eyes of the community; and that communities must understand the role and challenges that police face in order to ensure that that the publics’ security needs are met. The conference covered three key themes that are particularly relevant to the current context of policing – elections and police accountability, counter-terrorism and police accountability, and crime and police accountability. Delegates noted that “while there was a lot of variation in these experiences across the region, there were also similarities in the opportunities and challenges to promoting police accountability and effectiveness.”

Delegates proposed several points of action. They called for engagement with the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights in developing a specific focus on independent civilian policing oversight mechanisms, including civilian participation, as per its resolution at its 40th session; support of ongoing dialogue with international and regional mechanisms and awareness raising and engagement with media to accurately report all sides of community and police experiences. Participants also agreed to lobby for public and political support to promote the establishment of effective oversight mechanisms and called on governments to support and encourage the engagement of the police, civil society and other actors towards realising police effectiveness and accountability.

The programme for the conference can be accessed here, while the concluding statement can be found here. Presentations given by CHRI staff are also available below.

CHRI presentations

Opening remarks – Police accountability and effectiveness in Eastern Africa
Daniel Woods, Coordinator, Police Reforms Programme

Counter-terrorism and police accountability – Theme paper
Tessa Boyd-Caine, Coordinator, CHOGM Report 2007

For more information about CHRI's work in East Africa contact Louise Edwards