Question reference: S6W-03358
- Asked by: Maggie Chapman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Green Party
- Date lodged: 28 September 2021
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Current status: Answered by Keith Brown on 13 October 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it reviewed the human rights implications of Police Scotland's work in Sri Lanka, and whether it will publish the paper that was presented at a meeting of Police Scotland’s International Development Board on 19 May 2021 regarding its work with the police force in Sri Lanka, which led to a decision at that meeting to pause the programme.
Answer
The work of Police Scotland’s International Development and Innovation Unit and the papers presented at meetings of their International Development Board are a matter for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland, who is operationally independent of the Scottish Government. The decision to enter into UK Government funded contracts to train police forces in countries such as Sri Lanka is also a matter for the Chief Constable with the Scottish Police Authority having responsibility for oversight and scrutiny of his decisions.
Police Scotland has confirmed that their work in Sri Lanka is aimed to improve community policing and gender equality, with all training underpinned by equality and human rights. The training was initially paused due to the coronavirus pandemic and they are now awaiting the outcome of the review of the Overseas Security and Justice Assistance assessment for Sri Lanka, which is the responsibility of the UK Government, so that this can be given due consideration.