CAR_"Woe to the lonely man": Corruption in the penal system in Bangui, Central African Republic

“I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them.”

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-René Char

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"We must always try to understand our fellow man. If we exist, we must admit that he too, exists."

-Amadou Hampâté Bâ

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"There is no simple, there is simplification. The simple is always simplified."

-Gaston Bachelard

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"Pity the man who is alone": Corruption in the criminal justice system in Bangui, Central African Republic

Ladislas de Coster, Cheyanne Scharbatke-Church & Kiely Barnard-Webster
Completed for CDA Collaborative Learning Projects

Programmes to reform the criminal justice system in the Central African Republic (CAR) ignore the role of corruption as a dysfunction of justice. Without addressing the abuse of power for personal gain by actors within the system, the objectives of the reform advocated by the international community are not achievable. Some aspects of these programmes seem to feed the system of corruption rather than cleaning up the sector. The Corruption, Legitimacy and Justice project conducted 115 key informant interviews with actors in the criminal justice chain, citizens, and members of the international community in Bangui in July 2017. The project aims to contribute to the formulation of a more effective anti-corruption programme. Injecting more financial resources into the penal chain leads to more goods and rewards to be distributed to the same corrupt rules. If the international community wants real reform in CAR, there must be a complete overhaul of the penal chain reform programmes. The willingness to think and work politically is essential to achieve real change in this context.

The study highlights the following key findings:

1. Extortion/bribes, sexual favours, favouritism and political interference distort every aspect of the criminal justice chain and put justice beyond the reach of ordinary citizens.

2. Corruption in the criminal chain is a system fuelled by multiple factors such as survival and corrupt leadership as well as social norms that make corruption a rational choice.

3. Impunity for crime and corruption has created a deep mistrust of the system, delegitimised state institutions and encouraged acts of revenge and mob justice.

4. The Séléka/anti-Balaka conflict has amplified the dynamics of corruption as actors in the criminal chain seek revenge and the recovery of lost property in a context of eroding values.

To read the full study, you may access it here.

Email: contact@inanga.org

Address: Chemin du Cyclotron 6

1348 Louvain La Neuve, Belgium

Photographs courtesy of @RosalieColfs

@HandicapInternational

“I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them.”

"Nothing is self-evident. Nothing is given. Everything is built."

"If you think like me, you are my brother. If you don't think like me, you are my brother twice over because you open me up to a new world."

"The essential is always threatened by the insignificant."

"We must always try to understand our fellow man. If we exist, we must admit that he too, exists."

"The real sometimes quenches hope’s thirst. That is why, against all odds, hope survives."

"The problem with experts is that they do not know what they do not know."

"Listen carefully, we used to say in old Africa, everything speaks, everything is word, everything tries to communicate knowledge to us."

"The simplifying modes of knowledge mutilate more than they express the realities or the phenomena they give an account of."

"Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity."

"When you do something, know that you will have against you those who would like to do the same thing, those who would like to do the opposite, and the vast majority of those who would not do anything."

"There is no simple, there is simplification. The simple is always simplified."

"The disease is not cured by saying the name of the medicine, but by taking the medicine."

"Be ever vigilant, hold government accountable, struggle for peace and justice."

"Pity the man who is alone": Corruption in the criminal justice system in Bangui, Central African Republic

Ladislas de Coster, Cheyanne Scharbatke-Church & Kiely Barnard-WebsterCompleted for CDA Collaborative Learning Projects

Ladislas de Coster, Cheyanne Scharbatke-Church & Kiely Barnard-Webster
Completed for CDA Collaborative Learning Projects