Impunity major obstacle to human rights, says NGO

Impunity is a major obstacle to human rights in the Republic of Congo (ROC), the NGO l'Association panafricaine Thomas Sankara (APTS) said on Wednesday in a report published in the capital, Brazzaville. According to the report, the Congolese people, having decided in favour of multipartyism, wished to live in a political system founded on the primacy of the law and respect for human rights. However, the establishment of such a state was being prevented by the ever growing culture of impunity. "Many citizens behave as if they were above the law of the republic, day by day multiplying and worsening all forms of social ills," it said. President of APTS Cephas Germain Ewangui noted that the judiciary, which should act as a lever in the fight against impunity, was ranked fourth in a government survey of the most corrupt public bodies. The report called on the government to work for an independent judiciary. Congolese President Denis Sassou-Nguesso highlighted the problem during a speech on 14 August, when he said that unless checked, impunity would swell the ranks of "gravediggers" acting against the interests of the state.