Bukavu, 19 May 2012 – Relevant officials from the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), conducted a meeting with Congolese judicial actors of the penal chain in Bukavu, capital of Sud-Kivu on 19 May 2012, to evaluate the impact of a program of inspection visits to all detention centers in the area, undertaken since January 2011.

The meeting participants were concerned with improving detention conditions in prisons across the province, combating impunity, providing support for the justice system, and restoring the rule of law.

Between 7 January 2011 and 14 May 2012, seventy-three joint visits to police cells in Bukavu were organized jointly by the Prosecutor's Office and MONUSCO. As a result of these visits, 407 detainees were released because of various irregularities in the detention procedures.

Additionally, these visits led to a noticeable decrease in the number of irregular detention cases in the police cells visited. This number was expected to decrease further as the visit program would continue, together with the training of judicial police officers. To maintain this momentum, sanctions were provided to punish officers who would abuse the powers vested in them by law.

Addressing judicial police officers, the ad interim head of MONUSCO's Sud-Kivu Office, Amadou Amani, insisted that displaying professionalism was a key link in the penal chain. Officers, he said, are required to protect citizens' rights by adhering to the national and international rules governing detention. For their part, the judicial police officers called for the Congolese State to give the proper tools and resources to successfully execute their mission.

Alain Likota/MONUSCO