The Global Maritime Crime Programme (GMCP) of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has commenced a training programme, “Excelling beyond Emerging Challenges – Corrections after Global Pandemic” for Sri Lankan and Maldivian prisons officers at Maafushi Prison.
The purposes of the five-day training programme are for capacity-building of prison officers, induction of UN’s “The Minimum Standard of the Treatment of Prisoners – The Nelson Mandela Rules”, preparation for possible challenges relating to spread of contagious diseases such as COVID-19 and strategies to finding solutions. The participants consist of nine Sri Lankan prison officers and eight Maldivian prison officers.
The training programme was inaugurated by Commissioner of Prisons Ahmed Mohamed Fulhu at a ceremony held at Maafushi Prison on March 20. The ceremony was also attended by UNODC’s Country Coordinator for Sri Lanka Dushanthi Fernandes, Programme Officer Mohamed Arujun, UNODC’s Prison Expert at Sri Lanka Johan Mats Frederik Jonasson, UNODC’s Prison Expert at Maldives Eliud Opilo Okello, commissioned officers and participants of the programme.
Before ending his speech, Commissioner Ahmed Mohamed Fulhu noted the hard work and sacrifices of Maldives Correctional Service (MCS) prison officers who were also locked down at the prison away from their families. He sincerely thanked UNODC for their support and cooperation provided to MCS.
MCS stated the training will cover modules such as dynamic security application, human rights, Mandela Rules, code of ethics, contingency planning, use of force continuum, incident management, procedural security – escorts, correctional leverage on technology- post pandemic.