write a letter of complaint to the police commissioner against the inability of the police to check criminal activities in the capital
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November 3, 2005 7:00PM EST
Letter to Commissioner of Police
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Mr. Sam Inguba
Commissioner of Police
Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary
Dear Commissioner Inguba:
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International write to express deep concern over reports that police shot and killed up to three students and wounded more than twenty others near Porgera top-up primary school in Enga province on Monday 31 October 2005. According to public statements attributed to Deputy Commissioner Gari Baki, officers opened fire to disperse the crowd after students threw rocks at police. The use of lethal force against individuals without firearms, some reportedly as young as nine or ten years old, is a serious matter. We welcome the steps that you have taken to initiate an investigation into the incident. We urge you to ensure that the investigation is thorough, impartial, and transparent, and that the results are made public when it is concluded.
In particular, the investigation should examine compliance with the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials. Under the U.N. Basic Principles, where the lawful use of force and firearms is unavoidable, law enforcement officials must exercise restraint and act in proportion to the seriousness of the offense and the legitimate objective to be achieved. The U.N. Basic Principles further provide that the intentional lethal use of firearms may only be made “when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life.” The Basic Principles are not a summary of “best practice”; they set out minimum standards which are intended to apply in all circumstances, including circumstances of adversity where police have limited resources and are beset by other challenges. (Practical guidelines on how incidents such as this should be investigated are contained in the United Nations Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Summary and Arbitrary Executions and the U.N. Manual on Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Summary and Arbitrary Executions. A copy of the first is attached and a copy of the latter is available at: