Police Activities and Human Rights Protection in Hargeisa Somaliland

ABSTRACT The study intended to establish the relationship between police activities and human rights protection in Hargeisa, Somaliland, using descriptive and correlational designs. The first major objective of this study was to establish the demographic characteristics of respondents in which the study indicates that male dominate (59.6%) female (40.4%), the study also revealed that 54.1% which is the very majority of the respondents in the sample were aged below 30 years; 30.3% were 31-40 years old; 12.8% were aged 41-50; while 2.8% were 51 and above years old. the majority of the respondent are bachelors degree holders with 18.3% followed by diploma 14.7%, and those with masters degree constitutes l3.8%. Most of the respondents as table 4 indicate worked as police officers with S3.2% while the rest were the community with 46.8%. In the second objective, the study shows that, on the overall, the level of police activities (as to: torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and torture justification, arbitrary arrest and presumed innocence) is fair (grand mean = 2,31) and in third objective the study indicates that the level of human rights protection was found to be fair (grand mean = 2.51). The last objective of the study was to determine whether there is a significant relationship between the level of police activities and level of human rights protection in Hargeisa, Somaliland. The study uses Pearson Linear Correlation Coefficient to measure and describe the relationship between the two variables of the study and to test the null hypothesis. The study also uses regression analysis to rank the effect of the two police activities (torture and arbitrary arrest). The level of police activities was found to be positively and significantly correlated with the level human rights protection (sig. < 0.05 and r-value = 0. .371). It recommends that there is need to create the “inner belief” of the police related to the commitment of a crime or an offense based solely on objective facts or information, to respect the legally established assumption for the innocence of the person arrested or suspected, to respect the laws and rules regarding the attitude towards t,he arrested persons, suspects or witnesses when carrying out interrogations and taking explanations from the citizens, to protect all persons from discrimination based on religious, ethnic or social criteria, Correct training will lead to a clear awareness of the fact that aggression ~nd confrontation in police work is not the most direct way to truth and justice, nor the v~Iay that leads to the best possible result in a specific situation. Police should apply the principle of none~cliscrimination which implies that human rights should not be restricted regarding certain individuals, and that there should be cooperation in order to 3void discrimination.