PORT MORESBY (AFP) — A leading human rights group has urged Papua New Guinea to crack down on police who rape, torture and are excessively violent towards children and adults in their custody, a report said Friday.
US-based Human Rights Watch has renewed its call for the government to address what it claims is gross abuse of powers by police, the National newspaper said.
In a letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Abal, Human Rights Watch called for new laws to protect citizens against "the widespread use of violence by members of the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary".
The letter urged Abal to raise with the police commissioner the urgent need for any police officer who uses torture, rape, or excessive force to be held accountable through administrative measures and criminal proceedings.
In reports issued in 2005 and 2006, Human Rights Watch found that the Pacific country's police regularly tortured, raped, and used excessive force against children and placed them in police lock-ups with adults.
They also commonly committed sexual violence against women, men and boys and harassed people found carrying condoms despite the raging HIV/AIDS epidemic.
"These practices violate Papua New Guinea's own laws and regulations, as well as international standards," Human Rights Watch's Zama Coursen-Neff said in the letter.
Coursen-Neff urged Papua New Guinea to strengthen the police department's internal affairs unit to allow it to penalise officers who do not cooperate with it and to investigate alleged abuses.
The government should also consider creating a police ombudsman to assess complaints and the establishment of a national human rights commission, she said.
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