The ombudsman’s office has received a document, thought to be sent from the inmates, detailing overcrowding and alleged human rights breaches.
The ombudsman’s office said the Vanuatu prison has been a subject of an ombudsman investigation previously, and as such the office is prevented by law to re-investigate the same issue.
However, Transparency International’s president Marie-Noelle Ferrieux-Patterson said it’s the responsibility of the ombudsman to look at all complaints it receives.
She said her agency will re-send a copy of the document to his office. “We shall send him the report and refer the complaint to him and then he has to investigate. There is no two ways, the constitution requires him to investigate.”
