Human Rights training for Pakistani judges
Senior Lecturer Dr Niaz Shah has launched a major new pro bono human rights training programme for district judges in Pakistan. Dr Shah is working with the Peshawar High Court and the Judicial Academy of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (KPP) to train around 400 judges of the district judiciary, who will gain a sound knowledge of international human rights law and the skills required to apply human rights standards in their daily work. This is a unique project for both Pakistan and the Law School.
Niaz Shah is leading the programme by designing documentation including training manuals for both trainers and participants, as well as conducting Train the Trainer sessions. Areas covered include overseeing investigation of criminal cases to question of bail, unlawful detention, torture or inhuman treatment in custody, fair trial, exploring the options of non-custodial measures especially for children and women and taking into consideration prison conditions while sentencing. Judges will be better prepared to administer justice, whilst women, children and those who cannot afford good legal representation will ultimately benefit from the project.
Niaz, who studied at both undergraduate and masters level in Pakistan, is the author of several books and peer reviewed articles on human rights. He has been teaching human rights law at the Law School since 2007.
Date added: 14-Jan-14