PNG admits police force brutality

This boy said he had been beaten by a gun butt during interrogation

Papua New Guinea's police minister, Bire Kimisopa, has admitted that he is aware of females being raped while in police custody.

He was responding to a scathing report by US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) which detailed an epidemic of extreme physical violence by police in PNG.

This includes the gang rape of young girls in police custody, HRW said.

Mr Kimisopa told Australia's ABC radio that he was not proud of police violence and was working to stop it.

"I'm aware of instances of female offenders in custody being raped. That's something we're not proud of, that's something we need to eradicate within the PNG police force now," he said.

It was not clear whether Mr Kimisopa was referring to the rape of women or girls.

"All I can say is that as far the PNG police force is concerned, now we're going to change that culture and we're working extremely hard to change the culture."

The HRW report, released on Wednesday, described the violence as widespread.

Children, it said, are routinely beaten and kicked, knifed and even shot by police officers.

Sexual abuse, including the gang rape of girls and boys, is also common, it said.

One of the report's researchers said some of the violence and acts of sexual humiliation were so severe that they constituted torture.

Government officials knew about the abuse, the report went on, but were doing little to prevent it.

Australian role

As well as calling on the government to intervene, the researchers also called on Australia, Papua New Guinea's largest foreign aid donor, to take a more active role in making the police more accountable.

Australia has just agreed to send a small group of its own police officers to Papua New Guinea and also to provide police training.

That support could include ways of improving discipline and tackling abuse.

The report did hail one positive development - the recent setting up of juvenile courts in Papua New Guinea.

The new courts and guidelines for dealing with children were important steps in the right direction, it said, but at the moment any gains were being undermined by rampant police violence.