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counties proved difficult. Meanwhile, HRPS is continuing its own training programme and
reviewing the “training of trainers” initiative. The Section has also targeted training LNP officers
from the Women and Children Protection Section on child protection and juvenile justice.
40. New recruits into the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) have also received human rights
training, conducted by HRPS in coordination with Dyncorp, the security firm contracted by the
Liberian Government to train its army.
C. Support for institution-building initiatives
41. The Ministries of Justice, Education, Labour, and Health and Social Welfare, as well as the
legislature and the TRC, have received sustained technical support from the Section. Partly due
to the persistent efforts of the Section, the legislature finally adopted amendments to the INCHR
Act in May 2009. HRPS is engaged with government and civil society actors in supporting the
establishment of the INCHR and initiating the development of a national human rights action
plan.
42. As the Section increases its focus on economic, social and cultural rights, relevant
governmental institutions and stakeholders, including the United Nations Country Team, are
receiving support on the application of a human rights-based approach to the implementation of
the PRS. In May 2009, HRPS in collaboration with OHCHR organized a training workshop
aimed at building capacity in the area of business and human rights. Staff of HRPS and the
Country Team, as well as 45 representatives of government ministries, national and
multinational corporations, trade unions and civil society organizations participated in the
training. HRPS and OHCHR also made a significant contribution to mainstreaming human rights
into the security sector reform through the designee of the Special Representative of the
Secretary-General, who successfully advocated for ethnic and geographic representation as well
as a 20 per cent gender balance in recruiting the future armed forces of Liberia.
43. Building on the momentum created by the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities by Liberia on 30 March 2007, HRPS developed a project with the
Liberian Government, NGOs and OHCHR on the implementation of rights under the
Convention. Under the leadership of the Human Rights and Disabilities Task Force of which
HRPS is a member, phases 1 and 2 of the project were implemented. Preparatory meetings and
regional consultation workshops were held, during which a human rights and disabilities issues
paper was agreed and drafted. Phases 3 and 4 which entail holding a national workshop to
validate the paper and a high-level stakeholders’ social dialogue on the paper remain to be
carried out. Through this participatory process, it is intended that consensus and commitment
will be built within the Government of Liberia, the private sector, the United Nations family and
donors, as well as national and international civil society, on the development of a national
strategy for the implementation of the Convention in Liberia, based on the issues paper,
considered as a key reference.
44. Significant work was done in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in support of efforts by the Ministry of Education to
institutionalize peace, citizenship and human rights education in the curricula for grades 1 to 12.
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