Category Archives: Transhuman News

IN the post 9/11 scenario in countries coping with terrorism, the police can no longer remain restricted to traditional preventive and detection roles. They must also act as combatants and protectors of human rights. Every police service requires a counterterrorism and human rights apparatus. In the developing world, human rights and policing often find themselves in conflict but in the civilised world policing and human rights are two sides of the same coin.

Policing without observing human rights is incomplete policing. Good governance requires the transformation of a coercive model of policing into a humane service. All police actions are closely linked with basic human rights, and therefore the image of the police is directly proportionate to their respect for human rights.

Accountability ensures professional policing. In times of yore, Control Yuan in China, the Tribuni Plebis in Rome, the ombudsman in Sweden and parliamentary commissions in England monitored the police.

Apart from apolitical civilian oversight, accountability requires more transparency and openness in policing. Prior to the Police Order 2002, we were policing without an institutional public safety mechanism. The police order introduced public safety commissions and a complaint authority but these bodies have yet to flex their muscles.

Unfortunately, numerous amendments were made regarding the composition and functions of public safety commissions in Pakistan. If such bodies are to be filled with those who were responsible for the current policing model, inhuman though it is, then what is the need for cosmetic arrangements?

The autonomy of such bodies will protect human rights. Funding them requires special attention. The allocation of public safety funds will improve human rights indicators. These bodies must be vested with investigative powers. Further, before assuming the membership of civilian oversight, the capacity issue of the members must be catered for.

Owing to ineffective accountability mechanisms in the police, human rights violations persist. The internal accountability of the police enjoys low public trust. Article 114 of the Order requires that the IGP draft a code of conduct. Upon contravention, the police officer can be removed or suspended from service. But despite the lapse of a decade a code of conduct is yet to be drafted and implemented by all provincial police departments.

According to Article 3 of the Police Order, every police officer is bound to behave with members of the public with due decorum and courtesy. Respect for human rights enhances the effectiveness of the police. But this protective role can only be attained by improving the work station environment, training and accountability.

Last year, human rights officers were appointed in 13 police stations of Islamabad. Such initiatives always proved cosmetic as they had no dedicated individuals and were devoid of institutional and monitoring mechanisms. Such individual-driven initiatives are often closed down with the departure of its exponents. The protection mechanism provided for in the Police Order 2002 must be implemented in letter and spirit.

The police subculture often defeats accountability. Supervisory tiers need to understand that accountability is their prime responsibility .The majority of even good officers overlook this aspect as they do not want to lose popularity with their peers. Further reduction of the discretionary powers of police officers will also improve human rights indicators.

Read the original here:
Two sides of one coin - DAWN.COM

lllustration: Kerrie Leishman

Australia Post chief executive Ahmed Fahour is on tenterhooks as the May 13 budget looms and the Abbott government prepares to release the Commission of Audit's report on how to make the government leaner and more efficient.

The report and the government's response to it could be a game-changer for the business that Fahour runs. What he has described as a ''win-win'' would see Australia Post's role as provider of government services expanded significantly, cutting government service delivery costs and giving Australia Post new income to offset growing losses on its mail delivery service. Australia Post lifted net profit by 11 per cent to $312 million and paid the Commonwealth government a dividend of $244 million in the year to June 2013, but the profits all came from an unregulated part of its business, express delivery services notably.

Its regulated mail business lost $218 million, and Fahour told a Senate estimates committee hearing in February that the decline in letter volumes was accelerating, and likely to push the group onto losses in the June half this year for the first time since its corporatisation in 1989.

Australia Post is already a major agent for private sector companies and government agencies, processing payments and documents for more than 750 entities, including passport applications, land title transactions and licence renewals.

Advertisement

In a submission to the Commission of Audit, the group has argued, however, that its coverage could be expanded to include other government services and payments, including ones currently delivered by the Department of Human Services and its main retail ''face,'' Centrelink.

It would be radical expansion and one that would not be without execution difficulties. In appearances before the Senate estimates committee, Fahour was grilled by Labor senator Doug Cameron about Australia Post's qualifications to expand into areas that involve case management, for example.

The commission's report and the government's initial response to it will be released before the budget. The commission was asked to find ways to cut service delivery costs and end duplication, and the private sector provides a template.

Many large companies have already consolidated service functions that existed inside separate divisions into single ''shared services'' operations that each division accesses. Similar changes inside the government would be sweeping, and Australia Post is a potential services supercentre for the government because it operates Australia's largest retail network, with more than 4400 outlets, including more than 2500 in rural areas.

See the original post here:
Australia Post's 'win-win' in the mail