It has been a long haul of organising the CEPS 2013 Human Rights and Policing Conference, in commemorate the 1963 UN Seminar on the role of police in protecting human rights. But after more than a year of preparation, the conference is finally here, and so far has been going brilliantly.

The first day of the HR&Pol Conference got off to a good start with two great keynotes. Prof James Sheptycki (York University, Canada) offered a very theoretical outlook on global policing, while Emeritus Prof David Bayley (University of Albany, USA) talked us through how to facilitate human rights in policing through international development. Then it was time for the two morning sessions. Stream 1 looked at social diversity and human rights, which included issues such as racial profiling in Australia, community policing in Belgium, and diversity training for police. The parallel session was on investigations and interviewing, and presenters examined procedural justice concerns, torture in Nepal, and the presumption of innocence.

After lunch, attendees were presented with the dilemma of choice again, between a panel on technology & forensic science, and ethics and integrity in policing. The former looked at human rights concerns in familial DNA searching, the use and implications of social media in criminal justice and for the police, and new technologies used by police such as body worn cameras. Some of the revelations were quite scary, especially how easily a person can be tracked through their digital footprint, and even the posting of police camera videos to youtube. The ethics and integrity panel looked at police corruption, international law enforcement ethics, and effective police complaints system. Thanks to technology, it also included a video presentation from the Police Ombudsman Advisor of Rio de Janeiro, who was not able to make the conference in person, and this examined human rights and accountability in police in Brazil.

The day was closed by the opening of the conference’s visual exhibition by CEPS Director Simon Bronitt. The visual exhibition consists of a series of photographs by Dr Josh Wodak, commissioned by CEPS and curated by me and Simon. The photographs were taken by Josh in a number of countries such as Australia, Syria (just before the Arab Spring), Turkey, Germany, Italy and more. Josh was able to introduce his exhibition to attendees and describe the visual journey through the photographs. The photographs vary in their depictions, from a medieval prison in Rome to the Berlin Wall to police on duty in front of Australia’s Parliament House and images from the first day of the Intervention in the Northern Territory.

In the evening, everyone headed to the lovely Boathouse by the Lake for the Welcome Reception. A few well-timed drinks and some tasty canapés with a view over Lake Burley Griffin were accompanied by two fantastic speakers. Noel Campbell of Australia’s Dept of Foreign Affairs and Trade (International Organisations Branch) spoke about a topic dear to my own heart and research, Australia’s approach to the women, peace and security agenda. This is an important topic given Australia’s current seat on the UN Security Council and its heavy engagement in the Pacific with policing and women’s rights. Later, Dr Tony Murney, ex-International Deployment Group of the Australian Federal Police, spoke about his current experiences in Afghanistan as an advisor with UNDP on police reform. Certainly a different concept of human rights implementation and acceptability of police violence to Australia, such as the story Tony told about a police officer king hit punching a civilian 3 times in public. It was a great way to end the day, and set the stage for Day 3 of the conference, which will look at the internationalisation of policing, and gender and policing.

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