He said preventing, mitigating and addressing human rights violations in conflict and post-conflict situations were pre-conditions for sustainable peace.

"In the conflict and post-conflict situations, national authorities have often lost the capacity, resources and expertise (sometimes also the political will) necessary to ensure human rights protection," Mr Sander said.

He was addressing the opening session of the fifth Human Rights in Multidimensional Peace Support Missions Course for field officers' course at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra.

Human right abuses have become rampant on the African continent with discriminate attacks, massacres and extrajudicial executions.

The two-week course, which is being organized by the KAIPTC in collaboration with the GIZ, seeks to address human rights compliance, human rights violations and mainstream human rights principle.

It is being attended by 40 participants drawn from Ghana, Benin, the Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, Cameroun, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and Zambia.

Mr Sander said the German Government had supported the KAIPTC financial and technical since its opening in 2004 in a wide range of areas.

He recounted that the course was developed based on a need expressed by the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) Programme in a meeting at the KAIPTC in 2013.

"Interestingly at a recent training needs assessment conducted by KAIPTC and GIZ at the African Union level, the AU also indicated that there is a high demand for human rights experts in Peace Support Mission's in the region and a need for qualified human rights training in this context," he said.

"Unfortunately, violations of human rights are happening every day in different forms whether it is the force by security forces to stop for example peaceful protest or the forceful jailing of opposition members. Often, these violations are a result of the collapse of public infrastructure, functioning government institutions and the rule of law."

Mr Sander said it was in this context that human rights experts and in particular human rights observers were called upon to help fill this human rights vacuum.

He said this was evident in the consistent inclusion of robust mandates in the UN and other regional peace support operations by the AU.

He said human rights violations were a reality, hence the need for the Human Rights in Multidimensional Peace Support Missions Course.

Air Vice Marshall (AVM) Griffith S. Evans, the Commandant of the KAIPTC, said the course had been specially put together and reviewed by expert from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the AU, Human Rights Watch, the Legon Centre for international Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD), the Ghana Police Service, GIZ and the KAIPTC.

He said the course aimed to equip human rights officers with the necessary knowledge, skills and technical competencies needed to support human rights in Peace Operations in Africa.

"We are truly grateful to all our partners for supporting this course over the years. I want to especially thank the German Government for their continuous funding and support through its implementing agency, GIZ," he stated.

He said security on the African continent was a never-ending discussion and requires pragmatic steps, given the reality of human rights abuses when conflicts erupt.

"Again, considering the UN special report on exploiting by UN troops in Africa, the need for trained human rights practitioners cannot be overemphasized," he said.

He said human rights was the foundation of humanity, and that their hope was that after the course the participants would be relentless implementers and advocates of human rights wherever they found themselves.

Madam Lydia Yamoah Hagan, the Director of the Course in an interview with the Ghana News Agency said at the end of the course, the participants would be equipped with information on the legal framework for human rights protection mandates.