Kinshasa 06 November 2019: MONUSCO Correctional Service Support Unit (UAAP) organized in Kinshasa from 5 to 6 November 2019, a trainers’ training workshop for prison staff in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Altogether, twenty-two (22) civilian and military personnel, including five women from the Congolese Correctional Services participated in this workshop, jointly organized by the Ministry of Justice and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

" Through this workshop, we intend to set up a mobile team of national trainers to provide trainings on matters pertaining to the correctional service in the Democratic Republic of Congo," said Philippe KONATE, UAAP training officer.

MONUSCO unit has noticed that the Correctional service in the Dr. Congo doesn’t have enough qualified human resources. On top of that, DRC does not have a training center for the prison staff. As a result, the management of the correctional services in the country is undermined. For example, some of the few prison officers sometimes commit gross violations of detainees' rights and are sometimes responsible for the mass escapes, which impact negatively on the correctional system, and indirectly, on the justice system, which is a pillar of the rule of law.

It is in this context that MONUSCO has held this workshop, to train the staff to be able to conceive training modules likely to resolve effectively the gaps noticed in the management of the correctional services in the DRC.

It should be noted that MONUSCO, through its Correctional Service Support section has been assisting the Ministry of Justice in the initial trainings of the prison staff since 2006.