News and press interest – 11th April 2006

Following the successful delivery of three training programmes in the forensic sciences for Iraq in 2004 and 2005, Inforce is very pleased to aannounce that Dr Barzan M. Ali, one of twelve trainees from the 'Training of Trainers' program, has now successfully completed the delivery of training in Forensic Pathology and Medicine for his Iraqi colleagues. This course trained eight medical doctors who specialise in surgery and comprised both theoretical and practical tuition that took place over four weeks; these new trainees are now all working as District surgeons in five districts of northern Iraq. This programme is particularly indebted to the FCO as sponsors of the Inforce training programme, and to Professor Hendrik Schultz and Dr Jeanine Vellema who similarly provided Inforce's trainees (now 'the trainers') with professional placements in South Africa. More courses are planned, clearly demonstrating that empowering others through training is the most sustainable and ethically appropriate way forward for many post-conflict regions.

Margaret Cox