2 Mar 2011

Transparency International frustrated at lack of action over Vanuatu police

5:11 pm on 2 March 2011

Transparency International in Vanuatu says the government is refusing to meet it over the watchdog's concerns about the country's police.

A key issue is the death of prisoner John Bule in custody two years ago, for which no police officer has been charged.

Transparency's Marie Noelle Ferrieux Patterson says the agency wants to know what is being done by the police, the public prosecutor and government ministers.

A coroner's report into the death, compiled by New Zealand judge Nevin Dawson, questioned the loyalty of police to Vanuatu and detailed the use of violence within the force.

"And I think these two components are probably what are underlying the lack of action. We have been trying for one year mpw, Transparency, to get answers from the ministers responsible for the police and ask them what they are going to do with that report."

Marie Noelle Ferrieux Patterson