BURUNDI POLICE TRAINING PHOTOGRAPHS

(2008)

Pedagogical photographs commissioned by the Belgian development agency, BTC.

These staged photographs were made for National Police of Burundi in 2008, in the context of the then on-going national reconciliation effort. They were commissioned for use in training ex-rebel soldiers being folded into the civilian police force. Since the former rebels were mostly illiterate, the photographs were meant as pictographic guides, showing correct and incorrect attitudes and behavior in a variety of real life situations that they could expect to encounter as policemen.

The work was commissioned by the Belgian development agency Belgian Technical Cooperation (BTC), as part of its training support for the National Police of Burundi. The training support was one of many "good governance" programs then run by various European governments and NGOs in Burundi.

A former Belgian colony, Burundi, like its northern neighbor Rwanda, is divided between Tutsi and Hutu ethnicities and has seen successive waves of violence over the past 30+ years.

Additional images available upon request.

"Dignity in Uniform"

"Legitimate Defense"

"Dipolmatic Immunity"

"Prisoner's Rights"

"Right of Public Assembly"

"Sexual Harassement"