The Human Rights Instructional Program
The focus on human rights at WHINSEC centers on the mandatory Human Rights Class. All students and instructors entering our Institute must receive human rights instruction. The Human Rights Class, like the Democracy Class, is given at the beginning of each course to impress upon the students that democratic values, international human rights law, and international humanitarian law are essential to leadership skills in the armed forces. Its length varies in proportion to the length of the course. Courses that are four weeks or less normally include an eight- or twelve-hour block of instruction, those that are more than four weeks but less than six months include at least a sixteen-hour class, and those that are six months or longer include a minimum of forty hours of human-rights instruction. Classes are tailored to the particular requirements of the course.
The Human Rights Class consists of three distinct segments: Ethical Foundations, Legal Imperatives, and Operational Considerations. The Ethical Foundations segment, taught by the Institute’s Chaplain, incorporates morals and ethics; personal and professional values; and the Just War Doctrine. Ethics are closely linked to our disciplinary code of conduct. The Judge Advocate teaches legal imperatives and international human rights law in detail. The Institute emphasizes the difference between legal and illegal orders and the duties of soldiers when issued illegal orders and/or encountering human rights abuses. International Humanitarian Law underlies operational considerations and focuses on the Hague and Geneva Conventions; the (two) Protocols; and customary international law as it applies to human rights and international humanitarian law. Further reinforcement comes from case studies, including the massacres at My Lai, El Mozote, and Bojaya.
The second part of the human rights program consists of the human rights courses offered at the Institute. The Human Rights Instructor Course is a three-week course that incorporates human rights instruction (substantive) with human rights training methodology (procedural). The purpose of this course is to certify instructors so that they are able to train personnel in the area of human rights in their own countries.
The third part of the human rights program—Human Rights Assistance—consists of Subject-Matter-Expert Exchanges (SMEE). These involve visits to other countries in the Hemisphere for the purpose of exchanging ideas on the training of human rights, primarily focusing on subject matter and methodology or training techniques. SMEEs on human rights training and education have been conducted with the security forces of Bolivia, Colombia, and Venezuela. A human rights SMEE has also been conducted with the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights in San José, Costa Rica.
Democracy and Human Rights Week, the last part of the human rights program, is a week-long teaching event. As the first event on the Command and General Staff Course calendar, the week introduces students to the vital importance of human rights and democratic values in military and police operations. It maintains a keen focus on human rights, ethics and the rule of law, and consists of classes, lectures, case studies and guest speakers on professional ethics, international human rights law, international humanitarian law and democratic decision-making. The week includes the participation of a delegate from the International Committee of the Red Cross and several civilian professors, all experts in their fields.
The Institute has a broadly representative Democracy and Human Rights Interagency Working Group that advises the Institute’s leadership on all aspects of our Democracy and Human Rights Program and performs the very important function of keeping it current, productive, challenging and effective. Its annual meetings are open to the public.
The Institute additionally consults with civilian educational institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as to how security forces, human rights NGOs and other experts can work together to prevent human rights abuses during military and police operations. The International Committee of the Red Cross assists us during Human Rights Week and other training events. We welcome the participation and observations of human rights NGOs.