Kinshasa, 30 November 2009 - 80 prison officials, notably guards, clerks, staff and authorities of Makala central prison in Kinshasa began a five day training programme today on good penitentiary administration and on the establishment of a viable, safe and humane penitentiary environment that respects prisoners’ rights. The training is organised by the UN Human Rights Office in the DRC, and received some financing from the international organisation of French speaking countries.
The training, which consists of two parts (theoretical and practical through case studies), has the goal of informing and reinforcing the capacities of prison administration officials, through education and the analysis of the relative international standards and laws relative to the rights of prisoners in detention.
Training on international norms and standards will be centered on the right to the physical and moral integrity, notably the prohibition of acts of torture and bad treatment in jail, the right to suitable conditions of detention that includes the right to adequate food, the right to healthcare and the right to visits.
Other areas of training will relate to the responsibility of the state as for the application of these rights, the statute of people placed in detention (treatment of people in temporary detention awaiting trial or who have not been convicted of any crime) and the categorization of prisoners (women, minors, men and long term prisoners).
The DRC is reputed to have "death" jails. If the prisoners face administrative and judicial problems (such as lengthy delays in the treatment of cases), in most jails the prisoners have a lack of food and healthcare, and inexistent hygiene.
Since 2006, MONUC’s Human Rights division has initiated a number of projects to assist the prisoners, such as the donation of food, financed through its Quick Impact Projects and also by external donors.
These projects cover other domains such as healthcare, hygiene and purification, as well as the donation of various equipment for the jails, and 30 prisons around the country benefitted from these projects.
52 prison projects in total related to food self sufficiency were financed by MONUC. Oriental Province had 16 projects, followed by Katanga (13), Kinshasa (6), Kasai Oriental (5); with the other provinces sharing the remaining projects.
In Mbuji Mayi in Kasai Oriental, the prisoners have just had their first harvest of 10 tons of wheat, which is going to contribute to the improvement of their food.
In the domain of health, hygiene and purification, there are 50 projects that have been financed throughout the DRC; 36 related to reconstruction and rehabilitation of infrastructures; 23 to equipment and 12 to income generating activities. Since 2006, MONUC has donated a total of $100,000 to finance these projects.