Nigeria Pocket Handbook on the Voluntary Principles

In 2014, Nigerian stakeholders developed a pocket handbook to support training on the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights for the Nigeria Police Force. Developed by the Nigerian civil society organisation PRAWA, with the support of the Swiss Embassy, UNICEF and UN Women, the pocket handbook supplements Nigeria’s human rights-based policing training. The training emphasizes compliance with international human rights standards and practices in the conduct of police or law enforcement functions.

Part 2 of the handbook lays out key tools available to the Nigeria Police for implementing the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, for example:

For risk assessment:

• A human rights risk/threat register: a catalogue of potential risks that categorises and defines different threats to the safety and security of communities.  
• Mission essential vulnerability assessment: a process that helps identify physical security shortcomings which might create human rights risks.  

For relations between companies and the police:

• The procedure for managing human rights allegations.

Throughout 2020 and 2021, the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF) and PRAWA worked together to sensitize members of Nigeria’s law enforcement community on the pocket handbook and other relevant materials on the Voluntary Principles.