Recently accused of torture and ill-treatment by non-governmental organizations, the Congolese police will benefit three years from a support program for their professionalization, financed to five million euros by the European Union (EU ).
The Interior Minister launched the “Police +” program to structurally help the police forces to prevent all forms of torture, degrading, or inhuman treatment, and to better manage people in custody for better care. Raymond Zéphyrin Mboulou, in the presence of a few senior Congolese police officers, affirmed that it is an excellent project.
Senior project expert, Hervé Le Pennec provided further details on this program which also aims to modernize police stations in Brazzaville and “Black Point”. “It is a question of supporting the police towards practices that respect fundamental human rights and the dignity of people, by improving the reception of the public, more successful investigations, the creation of a local police force, referent police officers”, said Mr. Le Pennec.
For his part, Joseph Likibi of Congolese civil society maintains that torture is a sad reality in the country. For him, this program comes at the right time: “It is because it started from an observation of the situations that are happening in our country. Precisely, the police are not professional enough, ”he said.