National Protective Mechanisms in Zambia: The case of the Police Public Complaints' Authourity
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Date
2013-04-23
Authors
Chipoya, Mwenya Glory
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Abstract
Human rights protection and promotion is important and has generated debate and jurisprudence on the standards to be adopted. The National Protective Mechanisms that are established are meant to effect the commitments made by the respective state party to the international instruments. In Zambia the Police Public Complaints Authority was established to investigate and discipline erring police officers. Some scholars have argued that the involvement of police and other law enforcement officials in systematic abuses of human rights and attendant police 'cover-ups' in many countries has raised questions about whether law enforcement agencies are capable of unsupervised self-regulation. They further argue that this begs the question of whether the police can "police" themselves and deal effectively or appropriately with unethical conduct such as corruption or misuse offeree resulting in human rights violations. In particular, concern has been raised about whether police can impartially investigate allegations of abuse of power involving one of their own due to numerous factors as outlined below. This paper looks at such and various issues related to human rights. It also discusses the role the Authority plays in good governance and has illuminated on the various tenets of democracy and human rights protection and how the different stakeholders should contribute to the Authority performing its functions accordingly. This has been done with reference to the Indian jurisdiction. The paper has also proposed changes in some areas of concern and weakness in as far as the Authority's mandate is concerned.
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Police Regulation-Zambia , Safety Regulations