T HE TRAINING PACKAGE : OBJECTIVES AND BENEFICIARIES Since 1955, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR—formerly "United Nations Centre for Human Rights") has been engaged, within its Technical Cooperation Programme in the Field of Human Rights, in assisting States towards the building and strengthening of national structures that have a direct impact on the overall observance of human rights and the maintenance of the rule of law. In this context, the Office has been involved for many years in the training of personnel working in the area of administration of justice. Among the professionals working in this sector, prison officials play an essential role in ensuring that the human rights of those who have been deprived of their liberty by imprisonment or other forms of detention are respected and upheld. In recognition of this role, the United Nations, since its inception, has developed a host of international human rights instruments (both treaties, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and other documents, for example the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment) containing basic standards relevant to prison officials' work. Such standards provide invaluable guidance to prison staff for the performance of their professional duties through practices that are lawful, humane and disciplined. OHCHR's Human Rights and Prisons—a human rights training package for prison officials is intended to constitute a comprehensive curriculum for the training of prison officials on such international human rights standards. The main objectives of this publication, and of the training's methodological approach contained herein, can be stated as follows: ■ To provide information on international human rights standards relevant to the work of prison officials; ■ To encourage the development of skills necessary to transform that information into practical behaviour; ■ To sensitize prison officials to their particular role in promoting and protecting human rights, and to their own potential for affecting human rights in their daily work; ■ To reinforce prison officials' respect for, and faith in, human dignity and fundamental human rights; ■ To encourage and reinforce an ethos of legality, and of compliance with international human rights standards, within prisons; ■ To equip trainers of prison officials to provide effective human rights education and training. The training package's principal beneficiaries are staff who work within prison administrations, particularly those who work directly with prisoners and other detained individuals. In addition, it may also assist various intergovernmental and non-governmental agencies and organizations in carrying out effective training activities for prison personnel. Since the package focuses on international human rights standards, it needs to be supplemented in the light of the particular national requirements and legal systems in which the related training programme is taking place. v