European Union (EU) Ambassador Roland Kobia said the joint work- shop between Myanmar Police
Force (MPF) and Civil Society Organiza- tions (CSOs) held at the end of November 2014 could be a promising start for a mean- ingful cooperation between police, citizens, CSOs and media which would lead to devel- oping a relationship based on mutual re- spect and peaceful conflict resolution.
The workshop conducted by the EU and held in Pathein, Ayawaddy Region, was attended by 12 police officers and 13 civil society representatives to share communi- cation, negotiation and liaison skills. Ac- cording to sources, participants discussed conflict analysis and resolution tools while giving special attention to the role of Gen- eral Administration Department (GAD) in dealing with land grabbing cases.
The workshop was held under an EU pro- gram entitled “Support to reform of the Myanmar Police Force in the areas of Com- munity Policing and Crowd Management.” The EU Ambassador emphasized the im- portance of police liaising with civil society, he said “Police need to talk with people and liaise with civil society organizations not only in crisis situation, but also before and after a potential crisis may occur.”
Recently, the EU Ambassador has gone on a bicycle guard together with MPF officers in Yangon, meeting with local residents and informing them about reforms of the Police Forces to meet international standards on human rights, freedoms and nurture a ser- vice culture for the citizens.
