Vanuatu police blamed fur human rights abuses

By Mare Heil-Jones

The Vanuatu police force

have again come under the spotlight amidst fresh allegations of human rights abuses following the police crackdown and mass arrests in the Northern town of Luganville in Santo.

The Vanuatu police force was heavily criticised by human rights group Amnesty International in a public report circulated early last year outlining numerous human rights abuses during mass arrests that followed the riots in Port Vila in January 1998 over the Vanuatu National Provident Fund loans to politicians and which caused millions of dollars worth of damage and resulted in a State of Emergency being declared.

Crime in Luganville, Vanuatu’s second largest town had been deteriorating over the past 18 months. The Vanuatu Trading Post newspaper had reported growing

instances of intimidation of expatriate investors by unemployed youths in Luganville. The assault and robbery of a leading Chinese businessman who was knocked unconscious in the attack, coupled with the death of two young girls who leapt to their deaths out of a moving truck to escape being sexually assaulted by youths, and an escalating problem of rape provoked calls by investors and the public for the Police to beef up their presence in the area.

Something had to be done and the government were nervous about a proposed $2OO million investment deal in Luganville due to be signed with Italian investors to purchase the South Santo cattle Project plantation from the government and to build a resort and proposed time share units alongside a proposed casino, marina and tourist development.

To restore investor confidence to Luganville and Santo the new Barak Sope led government launched “Operation

Klinim North 2000” and sent in the Police Special Force from Port Vila under Chief Inspector Eric Pakoa, to restore law and order over the Christmas period.

A nasty confrontation between people from Hog Harbour in the North of Santo and residents of Luganville from the island of Paama fuelled by alcohol resulted in a volley of gunfire heard in Luganville’s main high street and expatriates being further intimidated by people to purchase alcohol.

The gunfire was the final straw and the police moved in fast arresting over 150 people at gunpoint in January. At first suspects involved in the Luganville disturbances, who were mainly from Hog Harbour were arrested and interrogated but as the Operation intensified all known trouble makers were rounded up and reports of excessive force on prisoners has been widely reported in the Trading Post.

George Wells, the opposition MP for Luganville has expressed his concerns over human rights violations and appealed to the Ombudsman and Amnesty International to urgently go to Luganville saying, “ what is happening is an absolute disgrace and a complete disregard of human rights. I have eye witness reports that they are abusing prisoners and have even used pliers to pinch prisoners private parts. The reports of physical abuse and beating up of prisoners is all true. They have been stripped, abused and humiliated. People are being rounded up at gun point.

“Police special force have been described by two shocked and irate expatriate investors who were also arrested as “Dressed like bloody ‘rambos’ in ridiculous camouflage military uniforms with balaclava helmets so you couldn’t see their faces. They were carrying water bottles and waving semi automatics around, wearing calico bandannas around their heads trying to look like the SAS. They raided our private houses and arrested us without telling us why in the early hours of the morning.

Talk about over the top”

Bradley Wood of Santo Joinery who has

Vanuatu had to restore confidence in its security for the sake of its tourism industry

teen in Vanuatu 13 years, had police knock »n his door at 3.30 am. His wife Ruth who s Ni Vanuatu was shocked when they lammered on the door and said they had .ome to “arrest her husband”. When Wood went down to see what they wanted he advised, “They wouldn’t tell me who they were, who sent them, why they were arresting me and where they were taking me so I resisted arrest as I had only just woken up hearing all the commotion.

You’re damn right I struggled, I thought I was being kidnapped and didn’t know why or where they were taking me” They couple allege that the police also kicked his wife and told her to “shut up.”

They forced him to the ground and tied the handcuffs on so tight it cut off the circulation in his thumb. Wood stated, “They put the handcuffs on incorrectly behind my back and left them on for an hour until I lost the feeling in my nerve ends. They then took them off and handcuffed me again with them in front of me and left them on for 10 hours whilst in the detention cell.”

He alleges that he was initially refused permission to see a lawyer when he asked for one.

It is the reason behind such heavy handed tactics in the early hours of the morning that is hard to understand and which is likely to result in legal action against the police.

Wood was reportedly arrested because of a complaint made against him by an ex employee over an incident that allegedly happened five years ago. He advised, “The police should have simply told me during the day to make a statement and let the court hear his case. Instead they send six guys wearing balaclava masks and camouflage uniforms with guns screeching up to the house in the early hours of the morning, pin me. to the ground and handcuff me and throw me in jail on Saturday morning refusing to allow me to see a lawyer. I am bloody angry”

Bradley Wood voiced his concern over how other prisoners were being treated, “I feel sorry for those Ni Vanuatu who don’t know their legal rights and are being treated terribly by the police. We know our rights have been violated and will take legal action to stop it”

Another prisoner alleged that they were taken to the barracks and forced to strip and dance with each other naked. He alleges that the police made prisoners kiss and touch each other. Another alleged that he was forced to chew a condom after being made to eat ‘swit maof custom leaf. There have been reports of prisoners crying in custody after allegedly being assaulted.

The Ombudsman is concerned and has already taken statements from prisoners as part of a wide ranging investigation.

Amnesty International is also concerned and is investigating complaints and media reports of reported human rights abuses and the Public prosecutor Heather Lini Leo has gone public voicing her concerns over the allegations raised in the media. She said, “there is no justification or reason in using guns to arrest people in Luganville. Use of guns to arrest people in their own homes is nor right”

The police head of operations in Santo, Chief Inspector Eric Pakoa has denied that his men have mistreated prisoners saying, “The people in Santo have suffered because of the law and order situation and I believe God has answered their prayers because of the operation we carried out. Now the people of Santo are enjoying their right of freedom without feeling scared. Everyone arrested has a case to answer and I am acting within the law.” He said that ‘some people in Santo were making up stories and the allegations in the Trading Post were simply not true.” Things have quietened down now in Luganville and investor confidence has returned but the police operation is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. The police action in Luganville was needed and was generally supported by investors but it could backfire on the police if Ombudsman and Amnesty International investigations show that it was at the expense of human rights again.

Prisoners under escorts