Congo launched Tuesday Police+program (Support for the professionalization of the police and the creation of model police stations) funded by the European Union (EU).
The program, worth $5.2 million, will improve detention facilities in police stations in the cities of Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire of Congo.
The program stretches over 42 months and aims at strengthening the role of the Police in the criminal justice chain, to improve citizens’ access to justice, the state-run news agency ACI reported.
It also comprises three components, namely monitoring and control of the penal chain, renovation of infrastructures to set up a model of pilot police stations, and training and mentoring of law enforcement officers, to consolidate police capacities in respect of human rights.
The project was initiated following the 2018 Chacona police station tragedy, the EU’s envoy to the African country Giacomo Durazzo said. Thirteen people, mainly youngsters, died in July 2018 while in police custody in capital Brazzaville, as result of torture.
The financing agreement was signed last month and targets three priorities: democracy, human rights, and participatory governance.