Manual for Training Police on Anti Human Trafficking

<strong>Manual</strong> <strong>for</strong> <strong>Training</strong> <strong>Police</strong> on Anti Human Trafficking 54
- A checklist 37 has been provided that suggests ways to ensure this kind of care is heeded.
- As duty bearers, police personnel are the upholders of the rights of the survivors. The following
key rights should <strong>for</strong>m the basis of the participants’ first response to the survivor of trafficking 38 :
1. The right to be treated with dignity.
2. The right to feel safe and not to be harmed.
3. The right to have in<strong>for</strong>mation regarding what is going to happen next.
4. The right to have access to resources like food, clothes, shelter.
5. The right not to be retraumatized.
6. The right not to be criminalized.
As a first step to sensitive behaviour, start by underscoring the importance of effective communication
with the survivor. This would also flow out of your role play exercise.
2. EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
<strong>Police</strong> communication, given the nature of their interface, is very crucial and carries great weight in
significance to the survivor/and survivor/witness – whether the police personnel is communicating in
a ‘positive’ manner or in a ‘negative’ manner.
It is a vital tool in breaking the ice with the survivor and ensuring that the survivor cooperates in the
process of investigation. In this context, some key principles/aspects need to be kept in mind:
a) Communicating with consideration and empathy
<strong>Police</strong> conduct (both procedurally and attitudinally) should be guided by the basic principle that the
trafficked person is a ‘survivor’ and not an offender. The trafficked person seeks your support in delivery
of justice and basic rights.
Unlike in the case of role play depicting insensitive victim-police interface the police person should
always be empathetic to the needs of the survivor and treating them with respect. Validation of the
survivor’s fear and anger is of utmost importance.
More so, effective communication is a two-way process. Expecting the survivor to be cooperative in
the investigation procedures while not offering them due courtesy and consideration will only prove to
be counter-productive. Extra attentiveness to the rights of the victims of crime must be sensitively
sustained in the first response and throughout the rescue and support process. 39
Also stress that communication entails not merely speaking but also effective listening too. Instead of
just telling your participants the dos and don’ts of their communication with the survivors, you may
want to do the following simple, but very effective exercise with your participants to stress on the
importance of effective listening.
EXERCISE
Effective Listening
Estimated time : 20 mins
Material required : No materials required
Methodology : Interactive exercise with pairs
Expected outcome : 1) At the end of the game, participants learn to listen far better than they
normally do. 2) They learn how to set aside their personal agenda, to fully
listen to one another, avoiding judgment or the giving of advice. They learn
how to grasp subtle elements of interaction, detecting both verbal and nonverbal
<strong>for</strong>ms of expression, taking in motions or implied connotations