In a plea for the government to protect its citizens against abuse, the chairwoman of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Salamata Sawadogo, has urged the authorities of the Republic of Congo to set up state institutions to guarantee the protection of its people from abuse. The government, she said, needed to implement conventions to which it was a signatory. She said her visit to Congo was intended to draw the attention of the government to three "important subregional conventions" on the protection of human rights that had not yet been ratified by the country.