Baghdad – Iraq’s security and justice sector institutions will be further strengthened under a training programme for Iraqi investigators that enables them to interview suspects and witnesses by using effective and non-coercive interviewing techniques.

The initiative is a partnership between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Iraq’s Ministry of Interior (MoI), with funding generously provided by the German Government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Training will be rolled out across the six model police stations of Iraq, which serve as key learning and development hubs for all police stations across Iraq. The training will emphasise the importance of maintaining human rights at every stage of suspect and witness treatment, ensuring best practice interviewing techniques are embedded into the model stations.
Participants will include local police, as well as employees from Anti-Crime directorates, the Police Affairs Agency, Training and Qualifications Directorate, MoI, and the Federal Investigation and Intelligence Agency.

“Germany joins forces with the Government of Iraq and UNDP to support security and justice sector reforms across the country. Establishing best practice interviewing techniques in line with international standards will help create efficient and transparent law enforcement and criminal justice institutions that the Iraqi people can rely on, while at the same time creating a safe and secure environment,” says German Ambassador to Iraq, H.E Martin Jaeger.”

“Effective, non-coercive interviewing will ensure respect for human rights. It will motivate police officers, instil pride in their professional skills, produce more reliable evidence, create a healthier environment in police stations, and enhance trust between the police and the population. This means more communities will support police investigations and more citizens will feel empowered to come forward as witnesses,” says Resident Representative of UNDP Iraq Ms Zena Ali Ahmad.

“We are extremely grateful to our longstanding partners Germany for this important contribution, which compliments many other initiatives they have funded for strengthening the security sector in Iraq, including the development of a local police reform strategy and standard operating procedures for criminal investigations, as well as the two model police stations in Baghdad and Basra,” she adds. 

The initiative is part of UNDP Iraq’s Security Sector Reform and Rule of Law Programme under the Governance portfolio, which aims to restore citizens’ confidence in governance institutions and state legitimacy, by supporting accountable, transparent, efficient institutions that meet community needs.