ASIA PACIFIC FORUM OF NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS 3. INSPECTING PLACES OF DETENTION: SAMOA WORKSHOP 6-9 JANUARY 2015, INSPECTIONS 13-19 JANUARY 4. FOUNDATION TRAINING FOR REGIONAL OFFICE STAFF OF THE MONGOLIAN NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, WORKSHOP, ULAANBAATAR, 9-13 MARCH 2015 Average ratings by the 11 participants (5 female, 6 male) Relevance 5/5 Overall quality of online course Overall quality of the workshop N/A 4.8/5 This national level workshop was attended by NHRI staff, a member of the NHRI Advisory Council, the Commissioner for Prisons and Correctional Facilities and a Police Officer stationed at one of Samoa’s prisons. The objective of the workshop was to train the NHRI staff in their new role of places of detention inspectorate. The content of the workshop was based on a manual for inspecting places of detention, written by the APF for the Office of the Ombudsman. The workshop focused on inspections principles and methodology before moving on to develop a program of inspections to be undertaken the following week. Having a specific focus for the workshop (developing an action plan of inspections and its subsequent undertaking) proved to be extremely effective in terms of maintaining participant’s interest and application. The learning was subsequently consolidated by the application of the new skills and knowledge they had acquired in the week of inspections. A further positive aspect of the workshop was the involvement of the outside agencies relevant to the workshop, namely the Ministries of Police and Prisons. Not only were they able to bring useful insight and knowledge that fed directly into the action plans but it also served as a learning experience for them and led to a better understanding of the NHRI’s inspection function and the establishment of a good working relationship. Average ratings by the 26 participants (18 female, 8 male) Relevance Overall quality of online course Overall quality of the workshop N/A N/A N/A This induction training course was offered to the Mongolian Commission because of the recent expansion in its staffing numbers through the recruitment of 21 new officers from the same number of aimags (provinces). The workshop sessions were structured around the contents of the newly published APF Manual on National Human Rights Institutions, which had been translated into Mongolian for the training. An APF Master Trainer from the NHRI of India was part of the training team. In consultation with the participants, the trainers made a decision not to include an action planning session because the aim of the training was to provide the new provincial staff with an introductory overview of the history, roles and responsibilities of NHRIs, rather than aiming to enhance specific skills or encouraging work in particular thematic areas. Furthermore, there was only one officer from each of the aimags and each officer operates relatively independently with limited or no contact with staff in other offices. The participants found the training to be very relevant and useful in providing them with an understanding of NHRIs – several of them previously did not properly understand the difference between NHRIs, government departments and NGOs. They particularly appreciated having trainers with experience of working in NHRIs, and having the author of the manual, Chris Sidoti, leading the training. The APF has yet to receive the translated evaluation data at the time of this report, but based on notes taken from the debriefing session with the interpreter, the main suggestions for improvement were: ensuring all power-point presentations are translated into Mongolian (particularly for any text heavy presentations), for all trainers to speak slowly, and lengthening the workshop as several participants reported there was too much information to take in for one week. In December 2014, the APF and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute hosted a workshop for APF members to share their experiences of conducting national inquiries into serious human rights violations. 38